Turbomilk

Olympic mascot

Vivid happy mittensTravel | Sport

On September 1 the Olympic Organizing Committee initiated the national mascots contest for 2014 Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi::

To be able to hold the best Olympics ever and to leave the most vivid impressions of the Games we need a special hero. A hero that will reveal the Russian soul to the World, present the contemporary Russia and become the symbol of our hospitality and cordiality. talisman.sochi2014.com

On September 2 the team of Turbomilk decided to face off the challenge. The mission was accepted by our illustrator Evgeniya Rodina.

During the brainstorming session we attempted to remember something simple yet familiar from the childhood. Unfortunately, due to the insufficient degree of Russian identity, we had to abandon the tongue stuck to a frozen swing and an ice-hole man.

As it usually happens, the solution came unexpectedly – mittens! Moms used to sew mittens together with a rubber string to avoid losing them; everyone remembers the hot crumpled mittens fresh from the heater and tasty pieces of ice in the wool on the way home. The Russian word ‘varezhka’ (mitten) is derived from ‘variazhskaya rukavitsa’ (Varangian glove), which addresses the identity concerns.

Let’s try to portray the selected idea in sketches:

Just what we needed! The sketches are really lively – we can proceed with drawings.

Fine, but please do not forget that the mascot should be flexible in its application. Each sport needs its own symbol:

The Organizing Committee immediately accepted Evgeniya’s work for the contest and the Mittens competed against Pete-the-Harmonica and the Checkbox of Victory.

Project participants

• Igor Koroluk — Creative Director
• Evgeniya Rodina — Illustrator

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