Tai Chi Olympic logo

November 2012

Energy rising and lighting the Olympic flame

I designed this logo to celebrate Tai Chi in the year of the Olympics to coincide with events when the torch was travelling through the Midlands. It follows the 2012 Olympic branding guidelines by giving the effect of the Olympic rings visually without actually including the complete circles. It was adopted on T shirts by the Lichfield branch of the Kai Ming Association.

The static positions on the logo follow a circular sequence of movement that is part of the Cheng Man Ching short form. The graphic runs from 'single whip' through 'snake creeps down' to 'golden cockerel stands on one leg' and conveys the idea of energy (chi) rising by the lighting of the flame. This animation gives you a good idea of the circular movement in progress.

The opportunity to animate was hard to resist and the positions were carefully worked out. I hope masters of Tai Chi who may feel that it does not do the form justice will forgive the attempt. There are many YouTube videos to be found on the internet which demonstrate the movement in more detail.