February 1997 – N°22 – Report – ENGLISH

After the logo and mascot, the visual identity of the World Cup 1998 has now been enhanced by new colours, forms and pictograghs.

These are innovations which will gradually be put in place in parallel with the concrete actions undertaken by the French Organising Committee in areas as varied as publishing, exhibitions, signage, decoration and even TV screen decoration.

France 98 Informations is raising the veil on the “France 98 style,” moving forward to the 16th Football World Cup, 500 days from kick-off.

The FRANCE 98 signature appears on most World Cup media to name the event.

A porwerful personality

For Jacques Lambert, Managing Director of the CFO, creating a global visual identity meets two major objectives:

“First of all, we had to give the World Cup 1998 a powerful personality that is unique, easily recognisable, prestigious and coherent. Our second objective consists in decorating the event in festive colours. We want a happy, fraternal atmosphere at the venues.”

The French Organising Committee therefore conferred the definition of the World Cup 1998 style to a specialised agency. In this context, “style” means the defining of the elements – the colours, media, materials, shapes and forms, animation elements, and so on – for the main application media: publications, exhibitions, signage, decorating the stadiums, hospitality villages, commercial spaces, TV screen decoration, vehicles, uniforms, promotional objects, and so on.

Of course, the World Cup style had to comply with a precise specifications document and in particular:

• Highlight the main characteristics of the event: the biggest sporting event of the end of the century and the biggest football competition, around the three values adopted, namely: Universality, Excitement, Sharing;
• Restore the “joie de vivre” theme already illustrated by the France 98 slogan: “The beauty of a world at play”;
• Remain coherent as regards existing graphics items, such as the France 98 logo and the Footix mascot in particular;
• Take into account the “international audience” for the event, which means, for example, that all signage and pictographs used must be understood by all populations.

The definition of the application fields for the visual identity of the World Cup is a very important step towards ensuring image coherence for all aspects of the event and for all types of public.

To achieve this, all the requirements expressed by the different departments of the CFO, as well as those of the commercial affiliates and host cities also had to be taken into account.

The result of this approach is contained in a document referred to as the “style book.” The principles laid down and which are modular and adaptable according to the specific constraints of each category of medium, establish the formal and graphics codes, the colours and the composition principles specific to each application field.

A series of examples of this “style book” will be used as a guide and working basis, as well as a common reference for all persons employed in implementing the different operational programs that together will form the visual identity of the World Cup 1998.

The FRANCE 98 colour palette design is based on national flag colours. It includes the logo colours, red, blue, black and “institutional colours,” completed by a range of basic colours: green, orange, light blue, yellow and grey.

SIMPLE, FESTIVE and UNIVERSAL

Without doubt, simple graphics styles are the most beautiful and the most effective.

Laurent Vincenti, head of Creations for the agency in charge of defining the France 98 style book and also creator of the France 98 logo, is a firm believer in this. A specialist in corporate visual identity, he took time out to explain his approach.

France 98 Informations: When you created the logo, were you already thinking in terms of a global visual identity?

Laurent Vincenti: No, not really. It is important to separate these two approaches. Creating the logo meant working on the institutional image of the event, that is on the image of the CFO. The logo represents the “institutional expression,” the entity that is organising the World Cup.

With this charter, we are now “hands on” the event. We have moved onto a “purely descriptive expression” which, through its colour media, evokes the spectacle and global festival of football, in compliance with the specifications document delivered by the CFO. This time we are right “in” the event. This charter enables us to imagine how the stadiums and host cities, etc. will be decorated. And before that, with all the publishing media such as this issue of FRANCE 98 INFORMATIONS, we are already going to become familiar with the identity of the World Cup.

Did you draw inspiration from previous world-wide sporting events to create this charter?

Yes and no. Obviously we looked at what has already been done before.

However, our aim was to avoid copying precisely in order to assert the specific identity of this event. Actually, the only thing from which we really drew inspiration concerns the pictographs, the small signs that indicate telephone cabins or toilets, where the graphical form is understood the world over. These signs were created for the Munich Olympic Games. We have just placed them within a circle, whether it be a football or our planet.

What were your priority objectives?

In line with the CFO request, it had to be simple, festive and international. And of course these three priorities are not far removed from the three values of the World Cup: Universality, Excitement and Sharing.

The other priorities, which are more technical, concern the adaptability and modularity of the concept. The choice of typography was very restricted.

Then, we took the decision to use only nine graphical animation elements. These are the logo, three-colour football, the FRANCE 98 signature and stylised slogan: “The beauty of a world at play,” stars and planet Earth in black and white, line-drawn footballers, the mascot and, finally, the “Cup-and-ball game,” a simple and sober shape taken out of the FRANCE 98 ball and which will become the basic central element of the entire identity programme!

So will we be seeing this “Cup-and-ball game” everywhere?

Yes, the decoration banners in the host cities, the information panels, the entrances to the stadiums and hospitality villages will all have this shape. And we mustn’t forget all the publishing material on which it will be located on the left side of the cover along with the other eight elements already mentioned. This is a simple graphics principle which is immediately understandable and identifiable and which meets the modularity constraint on all types of media. To summarise, we are using a few elements to express many things and to provide maximum impact and specificity.

And of course the bright colours symbolise the festival atmosphere?

A festival obviously and also the universal aspect of the event. In fact, these colours are the basic colours of all national flags. Have a look at the flags of the world and you will see that the range of colours is both small and affirmed, hence highly representative of its universality. By playing with these few graphics animation elements on backgrounds of different universal colours, the identity of the World Cup clearly stands out. And, above all, we hope that we have provided this charter with an original and specific character, both basic and perennially fashionable precisely by deciding not to be too “fashionable!”

Is creating the visual identity of the World Cup 98 the same as creating a corporate visual identity?

It’s slightly different because in the World Cup 98 context the “company” is already an event that is known and identifiable. However, it is wonderfully stimulating to be working on such a project. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a graphics artist!

SIGNAGE APPLICATIONS

“It is important to distinguish between the ‘signage’ sector and the decoration sector which covers the banners and streamers which will be placed around the stadium,” says Jean-Charles CALOT, Head of the signage and decoration project within the Equipment Department at the CFO.

“The first sector concerns all the directions signage in the host cities, getting to the stadiums, the CFO perimeter and finally the signs that will enable spectators to find their way around in the stadium and locate their seat more easily in the stands. Given that we will be addressing different populations, we must create a signage that is uniform, clear, simple and effective, in line with the new graphics charter.

And we really need to think of everything: where? how? on which media? using which materials?

At present, we are working on inventorying the products and their feasibility. We have drawn up a programme base covering more than 25 separate decoration and signage products. Next, we are going to carry out simulations in the field and inventory stadiums as well as railway stations, airports, roads, car parks, and so on). All these studies have been carried out initially using plans produced by the computer assisted design (CAD) system.”