Tokyo 2020 urged to scrap open competition to find new logo: An open competition launched by Tokyo 2020 to find a new logo has been criticised by The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) - who want organisers to scrap it.
The search is on to find a new emblem for the Olympics in the Japanese capital after the logo originally chosen had to be scrapped following a plagiarism row.
The competition to find the logo first time around was only open to designers in Japan who had won a specific design award, but the re-run was�opened to all�Japanese nationals over the age of 18.
As a result nearly 15,000 entries were received before the closing date on December 7,�12,900 from individuals and 1,699 group efforts.
That compared to only 104 entries which were accepted in the contest for the axed design.
The eventual winning designer will receive a prize of��1 million (�5,400/$8,200/€7,600) and will be invited to the Opening Ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics, but AIGA say they are against what they call "speculative work".
They object to the competition as they see it as work done for free, with only the hope of getting paid for it, and claim that a "remarkable" design can only be the result of a designer working directly with their client - something the contest renders impossible.
The organisation also argue that opening the competition to non-professionals "disrespects" the design profession and that the cash prize on offer to the winner is not enough for a logo which will be seen across the world millions of times.
Richard Gref� has written to Tokyo 2020 Olympics President Yoshirō Mori �Getty Images
"As the largest and oldest professional association of communication designers in the world, AIGA would like to urge you to reconsider this course," said�Executive Director�Richard Gref� in a letter to Yoshirō Mori, President of Tokyo 2020.�
The search is on to find a new emblem for the Olympics in the Japanese capital after the logo originally chosen had to be scrapped following a plagiarism row.
The competition to find the logo first time around was only open to designers in Japan who had won a specific design award, but the re-run was�opened to all�Japanese nationals over the age of 18.
As a result nearly 15,000 entries were received before the closing date on December 7,�12,900 from individuals and 1,699 group efforts.
That compared to only 104 entries which were accepted in the contest for the axed design.
The eventual winning designer will receive a prize of��1 million (�5,400/$8,200/€7,600) and will be invited to the Opening Ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics, but AIGA say they are against what they call "speculative work".
They object to the competition as they see it as work done for free, with only the hope of getting paid for it, and claim that a "remarkable" design can only be the result of a designer working directly with their client - something the contest renders impossible.
The organisation also argue that opening the competition to non-professionals "disrespects" the design profession and that the cash prize on offer to the winner is not enough for a logo which will be seen across the world millions of times.
Richard Gref� has written to Tokyo 2020 Olympics President Yoshirō Mori �Getty Images
"As the largest and oldest professional association of communication designers in the world, AIGA would like to urge you to reconsider this course," said�Executive Director�Richard Gref� in a letter to Yoshirō Mori, President of Tokyo 2020.�