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Look of the GamesThe Rio 2016 ‘Look of the Games’ – the design used for all the event’s visual communications – was launched in August 2014.This visual identity, which celebrates the vibrancy of the host city, was inspired by the rich landscapes of Rio and includes illustrations depicting the city’s best-loved icons, including Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado. It aims to be a source of inspiration, bringing people and cultures together at the Olympic Games, and will be on display in all the sporting venues and across the city during Rio 2016, as well as on tickets, uniforms and licensed products. The goal is to create a celebratory atmosphere and a unique experience for all visitors.Developed by the Rio 2016 Organising Committee’s in-house design and branding teams, the visual identity for the Olympic Games uses images of Rio that are easily recognised throughout the world. The project took around a year to complete following studies of Brazil’s historical and cultural identity, as well as a photographic immersion in the region’s landscapes. Four football host cities – Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Brasília and Salvador – are also represented.Sport PictogramsSince the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964, each edition of the Olympic Games has depicted the sports on its programme through iconic graphic symbols – or pictograms – that reflect the culture of the host nation. For Rio 2016, every Olympic discipline will be represented by its own pictogram for the first time in Olympic Games history. These symbols will be used to guide and inform the public during the Olympic Games – for example on venue signposts and tickets – allowing people from all over the world to immediately identify each of the different sports.Rio 2016’s 41 Olympic pictograms were inspired by the word ‘pictogram’, which means ‘painted word’. The designs were based on the Rio 2016 font, which was launched in July 2012 and forms an integral part of the Rio 2016 brand. The athlete bodies and sports equipment depicted in the pictograms were built from the font’s characters, or part of them, in a continuous stroke, with variations in thickness in order to give the impression of depth. The pebble shapes, which enclose each pictogram, are a characteristic of Rio 2016’s visual language and alter their shape according to the athletes’ different movements, while the pictograms themselves can be produced in a variety of colours.56 / IOC MARKETING: MEDIA GUIDE