Overview
As part of my graphic design curriculum, I focused on rebranding the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games. Milan is a modern city with a rich historical background, best known for its architectural beauty, fashion scene, and industrial progress. Cortina is known as a ski resort among gorgeous, snowy mountainous views, and has a history of agriculture and timber. The brand identity represents both cities and the essence of Italy as refined, artistic, regal, and natural.
The motto of the 2026 Games is Sognando insieme, which translated means "dreaming together." The primary logo aims to convey unity, strength, the spirit of the Games, winter, Milan's architectural and fashion influences, the landscape, and a modern edge. Clarity and minimalism are key elements of the branding, keeping the visuals of the Games timeless and versatile.
Mood board
From my research, I used artistic, regal, and natural to describe the city. While creating my mood board, I explored possible design directions that would visually represent Milano-Cortina.
Logo
The logo mark is conceptually versatile, but maintains simplicity. At first glance, the logo reads as a snowflake. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen as Milan's architecture, a dress to represent Milan's fashion scene, the Olympic torch, unity, Cortina's pine trees, and Cortina's timber.
Pictograms
For the pictograms, my objective was to maintain enough clarity to easily identify the sports. The figures were reduced to as few strokes as possible. To maintain consistency with the branding, the icons are contained in the 7 sided shapes. The figures utilize the same shapes for their heads and are made of sharp, contrasting edges inspired by the logo mark.
Typography
The typography is geometric to pair with the angular logo mark, and is thoughtfully typeset to increase readability and breathability. The contrast in weight between the headers and body fonts create a strong, clear hierarchy within the type.
Main poster
The main poster continues to lean into the simplicity of the brand. The Olympic logo becomes the main focus - taking advantage of how the Games are iconic enough to generate excitement without needing much context. Ribbons that double as slopes for the athlete pictograms add motion and ground the rings. The diamond pattern creates consistency and depth in the background; the Milano-Cortina branding in the corners add additional context as a finishing touch
Physical materials
To begin bringing the visual consistency of the Games to life, I began to imagine how the brand would look on physical materials. I experimented with the cleanliness, patterns, colors, and geometric features of the brand by designing a tote bag, wall mural, ticket, and ID badge.
Website
To bring the brand into a digital format, I experimented with how the Milano-Cortina's website might look. As with the rest of the brand, I utilized white space, subtle patterns, and strong, geometric edges.
