Teachable Moment: Olympic Mascots

I've done lessons before where students have focussed on character design and logo design. Mainly I have had students design characters which link to the IB's Learner Profile. These have resulted in students creating brooches, 3D Printed characters and even comic book/zines.

I recommend the following video for teaching about character design:

This morning I have been listening to WABE/NPR and a story came on about the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. I live in Atlanta now, love the Olympics and it is their 20 year anniversary so information about this is everywhere. For some reason I hadn't looked up the Olympic Mascot till I heard a story about how ugly it was. You can listen to the story and read an accompanying article here. You can also learn more from the Olympics official site here.

To be honest the Olympic Mascot for London 2012, Wenlock wasn't much better....

Our logo also was heavily criticized...

This brings me to the teachable moment mentioned in the blog post's title. So of course the Olympics is fast approaching, so school's across the world will have a focus on these, but I wonder how many will focus on the logo? Students could easily analyze it, redesign their own for Brazil, for their country or for their schools...they may even wish to think about what inspired the designers of the current mascots Vinicuis de Moraes and Tom Jobim, (Fun fact, their was a public vote to decide the names).

It is always important to create a curriculum which connects students...and this summer I am sure many of them have been playing Pokemon Go....so why not use this is a good bridge?

Possible Learning Statements: "Was the 2016 Brazilian Olympic Mascot inspired or plagiarized from Pokemon designs?" or "Is there such thing as a new idea: Are similarities between the Brazilian Olympic Mascot Tom Jobin and the Pokemon Oddish purposeful or coincidence?"

2016 Brazilian Olympic Mascots Vinicuis de Moraes and Tom Jobim

Pokemon Pikachu and Oddish

Leave your comments, ideas and suggestions below.