Yesterday, the Organizing Committee for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics unveiled the games’ official logo, designed by London-based InterBrand:

From the news release:

‘sochi2014.ru’ is the first Olympic emblem that also forms a web address, creating a ‘digital’ Games logo. It has been designed to actively encourage dialogue between Russians, nations and winter sports fans – particularly youth – facilitated by Sochi 2014′s online platforms.

The introduction of a 21st Century emblem for a digital generation reflects how the 2014 Olympic Winter Games will be accessed through PC screens, PDAs, mobile phones, televisions and other devices, in line with ever-improving internet reach, increased bandwidth and the adoption of new technologies. This can help young people to experience sport for the first time, with a view to active participation and long-term engagement with sport and Olympism.

Brand Republic gathered reactions to the new logo from several UK design agencies. Comments were generally positive, with some criticism of the logo as “expected” and not innovative enough:

• “My first reaction was thank goodness it’s not trying to be desperately hip. Because, as we all now know, you just end up looking a bit desperate.” Richard Morris – Managing director, Identica
• “I’d applaud Sochi’s commitment to driving their audience to a URL, something that will allow them to control the experience much more directly.” Fred Burt – Managing director, Siegel+Gale London

Reactions on Rings: New York Times Vancouver 2010 Blog were generally positive, with a few small criticisms:

• “It’s clear and simple, and the block font evokes the original Cyrillic, which is a neat twist.” JE – NYC
• “I like it. It’s got a Russian feel to it without going faux-cyrillic.” Chris – Brooklyn
• “Purely in terms of graphics, it’s very clever: the design maximizes mirror-imaging of characters that are diagonally across from each other, with not just o/0, but also s/2, i/1, & h/4. The 4 also is reminiscent of the Cyrillic character for ch (Ч).” Bruce Alan Brown – West Hollywood, CA
• “the “hi” and “14″ kind of make me think of the NY Giants logo “n” and “y” merged together.” D – New York