New logo: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was won by Azerbaijan's entry, Running Scared with Eldar & Nigar, and that means the Caucasian nation's state broadcaster will be allowed to host this year's competition, and they have chosen for it to take place in the capital of Baku. Azerbaijan has invested heavily in winning the ESC in its efforts to put the country on the map, which also includes two bids to host the Summer Olympics.

While the ESC has used a standard logo since 2004, the broadcasters are also encouraged to produce a supporting identity that makes each contest stand out, internally known as "theme art". The identity for this year's competition was unveiled yesterday, January 25, and is centered around the slogan Light your fire!, a follow-up to last year's Feel your heart beat!. Azerbaijan is sometimes known as "the Land of Fire", and the identity features lots of flames. The central motif is a sort of "flame flower".

The identity was created by London design agency Turquoise, who also designed last year's contest. While the logo and related graphics were unveiled yesterday, the on-air graphics are still under development.

The following images were provided by Turquoise and Eurovision.

The logo with supporting background.

Main logo.

Horizontal version.

With red background.

From Turquoise's case study:

"The Republic of Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia and one of the translations of its name gives it as ‘The Land of Fire’. This is due to the rich deposits of oil and natural gas throughout the region that also causes jets of flame to burst from the ground, a phenomena that dates back to the days of antiquity.

We took ‘The Land of Fire’ as our creative starting point when we began developing the new identity for this year’s contest as it gave us the scope to explore a concept that had both local cultural significance as well as international appeal.

Fire is an elemental force that, for centuries, people have gathered around to tell stories, sing songs, dance and celebrate. In much the same way that the Eurovision Song Contest has done since it began in 1956.

We feel that the visual identity we have created reflects what’s best about the contest itself and the event as a whole: It’s engaging, dynamic, warm and, most of all, imbued with a sense of fun."

Applications:

Guidelines.

Banners.

CDs.

Brochures.

Bus livery.

Press pass.

Twitter mockup.

From the development process:

Inspiration.

Sketches.

Development.

Eurovision Song Contest (archive)
Turquoise (archive)