Spec work
Milano Cortina 2026
An unsolicited identity for the Milano Cortina Winter Games. Italian Futurism's force lines, redrawn as snow, speed and light, carried from one key visual through a mark, a palette, a type system and the kit athletes actually touch.
- Client
- Winter Olympics
- Role
- Brand identity
- Year
- 2026
Milano Cortina 2026
Spec identity for the Winter Games.
The key visual
A downhill racer dissolving into the slope, painted in the force lines of Italian Futurism. Every other part of the system is cut from this one image: its diagonal, its blues and its sense of speed.
The framework
Four ideas, decided before anything was drawn.
- Purpose
- Carve out a future full of possibilitiesThe Games are about reaching potential, then breaking the mould, for athletes and for everyone watching.
- Vision
- To the future, through traditionLeonardo worked in Milan; Futurism was founded there. Invention never left.
- Positioning
- Inspired by Northern ItalyThe Games are the peak of human ability. The Alps are the peak of nature.
- Values
- Respect, dynamism, modernityNorthern Italian hospitality, carried outward to every visitor.
The mark
Two Alpine peaks rise out of the 26, with speed trails running off the numerals. It was drawn by hand, not built on a grid, and clear space is a tenth of its width on every side.
Colour and type
Three colours from the Alps form the ground, and Milano Red stands apart as the colour of action. Together they carry the flags of Cortina, Milano and Italy. Type is a condensed geometric display with motion blur for speed, and a Swiss sans for everything that has to be read fast.
MILANO CORTINA 2026
Downhill, Cortina d'Ampezzo, 09:30
The super graphic
Crop the key visual to a single diagonal, Milano Red over Cortina Blue, and repeat it. The tile works at any size without showing the full mark, and across a wall it reads as a mountain range rather than a grid.
The super graphic, tiled live at any width.
In use
Sixteen sport pictograms drawn in the same geometry as the mark, then the system on the kit athletes touch: race skis and the team uniform.
On the snow
Race skis in Alpine White and Milano Red.
