Otl Aicher was prolific German graphic designer and typographer most notably remembered for his corporate rebranding projects and serving as the lead designer of the 1972 Summer Olympics in , Germany. Aicher was also the co-founder of the School of Design, one of Germany’s premier educational centers for the arts until it closed in 1968.

The organizers of the ‘72 Olympic games approached Aicher with the task of creating design to compliment the newly built architecture of the Olympic village. Aicher hit a homerun and crafted an amazing campaign with influence far beyond the summer games. Aicher created pictograms with stick figures in the visual interpretation of the events and stadium features to help athletes and attendees navigate the village. The posters for the games he created were stunning and extremely contemporary design for the time. Aicher also designed the Olympics first mascot, a small colorful dachshund dog.

Aicher’s designs had simplicity and a unified style that clearly defined each unique motion of the Olympic events. Many times simplicity is key to a successful design, but it is difficult to know when the design has it and conveys the point clearly. Aicher set a visual identity for the games and was able to capture it using just stick figures in familiar and dynamic motion. Each design has genuine exuberance and also displays the rigid rules the master designer set. Perhaps what is most visually pleasing are the posters created advertising the games. The designs were flexible in use and had a contemporary color scheme that was so visually pleasing, but also did not feel standardized. The posters completely hurdled a fundamental problem of previous design of the games, a poster that can be read in every language. The system of which sports and events could be recognized by color or symbol gave the freedom to use as little words as possible. The combining of colors also seems to me like the combination of countries that meet to compete and the subtle differences in every color scheme was a great aesthetic.