2020 Olympics Logo Redesign: Before-and-After Evaluation
A vector-focused before-and-after look at Tokyo 2020’s withdrawn 2015 emblem and Asao Tokolo’s 2016 Harmonized Chequered Emblem, including file, format and usage implications.
Contents
The redesign under discussion
The subject is the official emblem of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. In 2015 the Tokyo Organising Committee unveiled a mark by Kenjiro Sano. That emblem was withdrawn the same year after similarity allegations and related controversy. In 2016 the committee adopted a replacement by Asao Tokolo, later used throughout the Games, which were held in 2021. For anyone evaluating vector logo artwork, the change is a shift from a multi-colour, circular-T construction with checkered infill to a single-colour circular emblem built from three varieties of rectangles in a traditional Japanese ichimatsu checkered arrangement.
What the 2015 emblem looked like as artwork
Sano’s emblem presented a capital T assembled from overlapping circular forms. A checkered pattern ran through the shape in a palette commonly described as red, gold and a dark neutral. The construction mixed large geometric curves with a tiled interior, so a faithful vector version would typically combine circular paths with many small polygonal checks, and would carry several spot or process colours.
The mark was retired after comparisons with the identity of Belgium’s Théâtre de Liège, designed by Olivier Debie, and after further questions about the designer’s other work. The organising committee opened a new competition rather than revising the withdrawn artwork. This evaluation treats the 2015 mark as the before state of the identity and does not adjudicate the allegations.
What replaced it in 2016
Tokolo’s winning design, published as the Harmonized Chequered Emblem, is a circle composed of three varieties of rectangular shapes. The published design intent presents the ichimatsu checkered pattern as an expression of unity in diversity, and specifies indigo, a traditional Japanese colour, as the emblem colour. A Paralympic counterpart uses the same rectangular vocabulary in a different composition, so the two marks read as a pair.
Beyond the circular lockup, the checkered rectangles were developed as a broader graphic language for the look of the Games. That matters for vector work: the production identity is a modular tile system as well as a single badge.
Before-and-after as vector construction
| Aspect | 2015 emblem | 2016 emblem |
| Designer | Kenjiro Sano | Asao Tokolo |
| Official life | Unveiled and withdrawn in 2015 | Adopted in 2016 and used for Tokyo 2020 |
| Core geometry | Stylized T from overlapping circular forms | Circle assembled from three varieties of rectangles |
| Pattern role | Checkered infill inside the T | Ichimatsu checks are the emblem |
| Colour | Multi-colour (red, gold, dark) | Single traditional indigo |
| Likely path makeup | Circles plus many small check tiles; multiple fills | Discrete rectangular tiles; one fill |
| Identity system | Primarily a standalone badge | Badge plus expandable checkered graphic language |
| Paralympic pair | Separate withdrawn proposal | Shared rectangular units, different composition |
From a practical artwork standpoint, the 2016 mark is simpler to draw, scale and reproduce. Rectangles with a single fill colour reduce trapping, colour-matching and stitch or screen separations. The 2015 mark’s overlapping circles and multi-colour checks would demand tighter registration and more complex path or mask work in any outlined file.
How this affects files you might hold or commission
A production-ready version of either emblem is outlined vector artwork: closed paths, defined colours, and no reliance on a live font for the badge itself. Images of the marks on news pages, social posts and many downloadable previews are raster pictures. Some files labelled as vector still embed a bitmap of the badge inside an otherwise empty page. The filename or extension alone does not prove that the logo exists as editable paths.
- For reproduction, request or supply outlined paths of Tokolo’s rectangular tiles, or of the withdrawn Sano construction if the brief is historical, in the specified indigo or the 2015 multi-colour set.
- For layout, keep the circular emblem as a locked graphic; lettering for Tokyo 2020 or related wordmarks is a separate element and may use a licensed font or outlined type.
- For pattern work, the 2016 system can be extended with the same three rectangular varieties when the application is authorised.
- For checks of a file you already have, open it in an editor that shows actual path outlines. Confirm that the badge is geometry, that no photograph sits on an image layer, and that colours are specified rather than sampled from a screenshot.
Download, modification and trademark
Olympic properties, including this emblem, the five rings, and the Tokyo 2020 names, are protected marks. Permission to download a preview or even a vector file is separate from permission to modify the artwork, to use accompanying fonts, or to apply the trademarks in print, merchandise, broadcast or digital products. Unofficial free-logo packs do not confer those rights. Historical or editorial discussion of the redesign is a different activity from producing or distributing the mark as identity artwork.
Limits of this evaluation
No production files were supplied for inspection, so this assessment cannot report point counts, boolean operations, compound-path structure, embedded rasters, or colour-mode details of any specific SVG, EPS, PDF or AI file. It also cannot verify whether a given download is official master artwork, a fan tracing, or a raster preview placed in a vector wrapper. Measurements, print tests and first-hand file audits are therefore omitted. For a live job, treat authorised artwork from the rights holder as the source of truth, and treat any other file as unverified until its paths and licence are confirmed.