The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) unveiled the pictograms for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games at the Beijing Olympic Media Center on Wednesday, on the occasion of the Month for the Publicity of the 17th National Help-the-Disabled Day.
The pictograms will be widely used in the road signal system, in the symbols and decorations in and outside the venues, as well as in the guides for athletes and spectators. They will also be used in TV broadcasting, in promotion, in advertising and in marketing, to enrich the public experience of the Paralympic Games. Being important components of the image of the Paralympics, the pictograms must reflect the Paralympic sports clearly and in keeping with the other visual elements of the Beijing Paralympics such as the emblem and the color system, and act as carriers of the concepts of the Paralympic Games and of the culture of the host county.
The pictograms of the Beijing Paralympic Games have adopted the creative concepts and design styles of the pictograms of the Beijing Olympic Games, while taking into account the characteristics of the Paralympic sports and the experience of the previous editions of the Paralympic Games. They have done so to maintain the continuity of the image design style, which is a crucial consideration because of the limited time interval between the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The pictograms of the Beijing Paralympic Games use the structure of the Chinese seal script as their basic form, while incorporating the pictographic charm of the oracle bone writing (jia gu wen) and the bronze-ware script (jin wen) with the simplification of modern graphics. The design not only features the particular movement and dynamism of each sport, but is also easy to recognize, remember and use. Through the skillful application of the striking contrast between white and black, the pictograms of the Beijing Paralympic Games demonstrate distinct features of movement, graceful charm of dynamism and rich cultural connotations, and arrive at a harmony and unity of "form" and "content".
The pictograms of the Beijing Paralympic Games cover all 20 individual sports, namely archery, athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, football 5-a-side, football 7-a-side, goal-ball, judo, power-lifting, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis.
BOCOG started the research, creation and appraisal of the pictograms for the Beijing Paralympic Games in May 2006.The Central Academy of Fine Arts, a member of the Design Group for the Pictograms of the Beijing Olympic Games, was responsible for their design, creation and testing. Numerous design experts, Paralympics specialists and representatives of disabled athletes offered their valuable opinions and suggestions during the process. In December 2006, the BOCOG Executive Board officially approved the design scheme of the pictograms and submitted them to the international sports federations (IFs). As of the end of February 2007, all IFs reviewed and approved the pictograms and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) officially approved them in April 2007.