Since the first tournement in 1930 the World Cup has taken place every four years (excluding 1942 and 1946 due to WWII), with each event delivering it's own style and flare in the design. Such a timescale allows us to view any transitions in design trends, any timeless works of art that wouldn't look out of place in todays world, as well as the designs that errm... I'm sure were good at the time.
1930 - Uruguay
1934 - Italy
1938 - France
1950 - Brazil
1954 - Switzerland
1958 - Sweden
1962 - Chile
1966 - England
1970 - Mexico
1974 - West Germany
1978 - Argentina
1982 - Spain
1986 - Mexico
1990 - Italy
1994 - USA
1998 - France
2002 - Korea Republic & Japan
2006 - Germany
2010 - South Africa
My View
This collection of World Cup art provides an excellent range of designs.
I was particularly impressed with the logo and poster designs from Mexico '70. I love the simplified football which provides a big, bold focal point of the poster which also complements the stylish text below it. The basic colours used round off the design to create a very simple, yet effective design, very reminiscent of design trends 40 years on. Truly a timeless design.
Another poster design worthy of a mention is from Argentina '78. This is another poster design that wouldn't look out of place in todays industry, notably thanks to the bold, striking typography which reads vertically on the left hand side in an attractive and simple font.
This years poster for South Africa 2010 is another of my favourites, with a really nice use of colour, all of which complement each other very nicely, creating a warm feel to the design. Adding to its appeal is a very clever and creative use of the continent's shape, linking it to football extremely elegantly.
My favourite logo by quite a distance is from Japan and Korea 2002. Clearly inspired by the Fifa World Cup Trophy, it has been beautifully smplified to create an easy on the eye, elegant composition. It seems this design has cemented itself as the official world cup stamp, as an incarnation of the design has featured in both logo designs of the two World Cups since 2002.
The I'm sure they were good at the time designs:
Spain '82 (Poster).
Mexico '86 (Poster).
To sum up, I believe there has been an evident forward movement in terms of design since the turn of the century, with an improvement in most areas of technical design such as use of colour, placement, creativity and simplicity. Having said that, some of the designs from 60-80 years ago are really quite impressive considering the limited set of tools they would have had to work with compared to today.
