Otl Aicher

Otl Aicher, born in Germany 1922, was one of the leading Graphic Designers of the 20th Century. 
Aicher was best known for being the main designer for the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1966 Aicher was commissioned by the organisers of the Munich Olympics to become the Olympic Games' lead designer. He was asked to design work that complemented the architecture of the stadium that was newly built and designed by Günther Behnisch. 

Aicher developed around 180 pictograms basing his work in part of iconography for the '64 Games. Being an international game, with people of all languages attending, Aicher created pictograms comprised of shapes following a series of grid systems, his designs proved influential on the use of stick figures for public signage. due to the Olympics being an international game, the pictograms had to form a visual language  that all could understand and interpret. Aicher was able to achieve this through his work by consistently using his grid systems to forms repeating identifiable components to his work, this allowed all of his pictograms to relate and flow together, forming a successful visual language. 

To not over complicate his pictogram designs, aicher adopted this use of colours coding, to identify the allocated themes throughout the olympic games, that being for example, media, technical services, celebrity hospitality and public functions. This use of colour was further made easier for international visitors by having staff dressing in colour coordinated uniforms, making differentiating the themes easier. 

Through the use of colour and a grid system, Aicher successfully created around 180 pictograms for the olympics. This research shows  that the use of colour coding and using the same grid system to create pictograms proves very successful when creating a pictogram system. I could use this process of design to further my design work for the Wayfinding project. 
Aicher’s concept for a pictogram system aimed to fashion a universal picture language that is international, timeless and readily assimilable. Such was the popularity of his pictograms that they became a veritable trademark for the 1972 Olympic Games. otl aicher pictograms are now icons of modern culture.