The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Committee has announced a call for entries for the Tokyo 2020 Games Mascots. Although Japan is well-known for their mascots, the last time the Summer Olympics were held in Japan the year was 1964 so mascots weren’t really a thing. That means this will be the first mascot for a summer Olympics game held in Japan.
Around the end of this year a shortlist of entries will be judged by a group of elementary school children, which is kind of a cool idea. But given the past controversies those kids better be up to speed on international copyright basics and plagiarism.
All residents of Japan are welcome to submit their proposal for mascot.
Spoonful is a category of news on Spoon & Tamago that provides short, brief stories on Japanese art, design and culture.
May 23, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Elementary school children judging a professional design is not only not “kind of a cool idea” but rather an incredible insult to anyone submitting their designs and to the graphic designers community as well.
I hope there is more to it than what it is shown here, otherwise this is just a complete lack of understanding of design culture.
And given the good content you usually show in this site, I didn’t expect you guys to show such a low consideration for designers, no matter the field.
May 31, 2017 at 11:00 pm
I can tell you one thing, it will probably be the highest voter turnout in history!
To respond to Ruben’s comments, it seems the top 3 or 4 candidates for mascot will be selected and the final decision will be made by the votes. So I think it’s merely to take the onus away from adults to make the decision.