Official logo for 2014 Games has a familiar ring

It’s taken nine months, eight people, three offices and £95,000, but the result is – the new brand logo for Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Against a backdrop of fireworks and special effects, the new design was unveiled at a ceremony in Glasgow yesterday in front of more than 1,000 invited guests, dignitaries and local schoolchildren at the Clyde Auditorium.

More than 60 design agencies from around the world competed for the high-profile contract to design the logo, with Glasgow-based Marque Creative eventually being chosen.

Costing far less than the £400,000 it cost to design the London 2012 Olympic logo, the brand is expected to become a common sight across the city in the build up to the Games.

Unveiling the logo, John Scott, chief executive of the organising committee, said: “I believe it is a classic piece of graphic design.”

The 20th Commonwealth Games is represented in red, the 17 sports are represented in yellow, the 11 days by blue and the one host city by the use of a Green G in the middle of the concentric circles.

Robert Smith, chairman of the organising committee, described it as a “new icon for Glasgow” and believes the unveiling marks the start of a significant year for the Games.

He said: “2010 is a year in which very visible progress towards the delivery of the Games will be evident. The National Indoor Sports Arena and the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in the east end will start to rise up out of the ground and the site for the athletes’ village will be cleared.”

The aim of the logo is to offer its exclusive use to companies to generate income through sponsorship. Mr Scott added: “We now need to raise the revenue required to help stage the games through selling rights to the brand identity as sponsorship.”

Mark Noe, managing director of Marque Creative, said: “We are privileged to have had the opportunity to create the brand identity for such a significant event as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The identity is one which is grounded in integrity and design rigour and we are proud of the legacy that it will leave behind for Glasgow and Scotland.

“We hope that the identity will become an iconic symbol celebrating a very special moment in time – and will become synonymous with quality, achievement and vision.”

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon added: “The new brand is much more than a marketing logo. Over the next four years everyone will become familiar with this distinctive brand and begin to identify with it.

“We want this unique design to inspire all Scots to get behind the Games and see Glasgow 2014 as an event for the whole country.”