This summer, companies throughout the world will be headed to the Olympic Games in Beijing to take advantage of opportunities to build brand awareness by attaching via sponsorship to national teams, sports, and athletes. Major brands use the exposure to reinforce their presence worldwide, while up-and-coming brands may use the opportunity to gain entry into the global marketplace. At the center of this whirlwind of the corporate sponsorship lie the games themselves, and the unique design systems which are employed to symbolize and commemorate the event, usually chosen from hundreds of entries in competition for the distinct honor. The design of emblems, posters, and most recently the event locations all bear a task in common with brands seeking to reach the global market: the ability to precisely communicate your message across geographic and cultural barriers.

The modern Olympic games offer us a wealth of inspiration and guidance for creating design which can pack a wide variety of meaning into a singular visual statement: National heritage, global diversity, sportsmanship, and tradition. Add to that the task of having appeal to the world audience, and you've got quite the design challenge on your hands.

The following are some of the more successful designs employed for past games:

The emblem of the 1964 Tokyo games, designed by Yusaku Kamekura, shows gold Olympic rings superimposed on the emblem of the Japanese national flag, representing the rising sun. The use of repetition of the circular forms creates a harmonius and ingeniously simple visual symbol which is loaded with significance.

For the 1968 games in Mexico, a team of three artists created a logo which is a combination of the five Olympic rings and the year. The repeated outline recalls the patterns of the Huichole Indians, combining national heritage and tradition while advertising the global event.