The 2008 Olympics are well under way by now in Beijing, China, and if you haven't tuned in for any TV or online viewing of the events, you are really missing out on some spectacular sporting event drama. The artistic impression from the venue architecture to the team uniforms, to signage graphics, and on and on... will create design trends for years to come. You just can't help but absorb some of the aura of the artisans who have created this spectacle into your "web designer psyche". The event slogan is "One World, One Dream", so I'm sure some of that requisite went into the overal design theme thinking.
Here's a handy rundown of some notable 2008 Olympic Games Websites:
- http://en.beijing2008.cn/ - The Official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
- http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp - International Olympic Committee website for the event
- http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/index - ESPN TV and web coverage home
- http://www.nbcolympics.com/ - Just your average TV network site page, this one, maybe NBC has a better offering?
- http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/image/ - Torch relay graphics
- http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214070893.shtml - Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal Designs
- http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/official/preparation/n214510154.shtml - Beijing Olympics graphic designers article
- http://en.beijing2008.cn/funpage/ - Funpage with wallpapers and screensavers
- http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/superb-designs-for-the-beijing-2008-olympics/ - Photo blog of some Beijing sculpted gardens
- http://www.usolympicteam.com/ - US Olympic Team homepage with links to all of the individual team sport websites
- http://www.olympics.com.au/ - The Austrailian Olympic homepage is sporting a brilliant blue design to commemorate this years Beijing Olympic Games.
With too many countries participating to track down all of the web designs themed for Beijing maybe you could share some of your finds?
Future Olympic Games
http://www.london2012.com - The Olympics will be making a stop in London when 2012 rolls around.
http://www.chicago2016.org/News/Pages/home.aspx
It appears Chicago, Illinois is a candidate city for the 2016 Olympics, this page certainly has some interesting design features. click the Activate Homepage button (upper right) and it slides the page up, changes opacity settings and removes the interactive user form, interesting user-interface choices and a way of changing the page focus.