What has got to be one most anticipated design elements for the London 2012 Olympics, was released over the weekend – the launch of the pictograms.

The launch was announced on the official London 2012 blog. A pretty hard gig to follow, the pictogram has a rich history in design after ‘father of the “look” of Olympic Games’ Otl Aicher, designed the pictogram graphics for Munich 72. Click here for a look at the recent history of the Olympic pictogram.

There are two formats for each pictogram – a silhouette and a ‘dynamic’ version (which was apparently inspired by the London Underground). Although the designs manage to follow the style of the 2012 logo and identity, it still unfortunately falls far from the the excellence of Munich and Mexico.

I would be interested to see next these pictograms animated and created for digital…

Great concept for a business card by Murmure. Like some old school heat sensitive material which changes when touched, these business cards react when touched. I prefer the third example where the heat actually reveals the work / contact on being touched.