Otl Aicher lived through and resisted the Nazi regime. He went on to pioneer democratic design.
A mural in Munich's former Olympic Village features Otl Aicher's pictograms. (Flickr user Brendan Rankin)
Otl Aicher was a co-founder of the the Ulm School of Design, a school that was "interested in the science of language, the science of persuasion". He might be best known as the art director of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
"Under Aicher’s leadership, the colors of the (1972) games were a palette of light, fresh shades of blue, green, silver, orange and yellow. In a playful gesture, the closing ceremonies included the display of a long, helium-filled rainbow balloon designed by German artist Otto Piene, known for his kinetic artwork.
These images representing "escalator," "nursery" and "ground transportation", employed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, are completely derivative of a style introduced by Aicher in his design of the 1972 Olympics games in Munich.
“'There will be no displays of nationalism and no giantism,' Aicher wrote at the time. 'Sport will not be seen in relation to military discipline or as preparation for it.'"
The pictograms for the Tokyo Summer Games are the first in the history of the Olympics to be kinetic.
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