![]() I’m just joking, but in truth, it was exciting. I went to my wife and said, “see, told ya!” (laughs). LW: Well, we arrived in December and were invited to a Christmas party and they had a piñata. What was that like, arriving as a 29-year-old designer in a country you knew so little about? Lance Wyman: Yes, it does and it’s funny to think that when it began, I knew so little about Mexico that the extent of my cultural exposure was basically piñatas. Given the extent of your work and travel there, I imagine Mexico City must hold a special place in your heart. When we finally checked the time, we realized many hours had passed since we first sat down at Lance’s drafting table-a testament to his inviting disposition and lucid recollections of Mexico City. The interview concluded with a trip upstairs to see their collection of ceremonial masks from Jalisco, which lines the living room floor-to-ceiling, followed by huipiles from Mexico and Guatemala on the floor above and an extensive assortment of Talavera ceramics in the kitchen. Fifty years later, his connection to the city and its influence on his work is palpable. On the occasion of Per Diem’s feature on Mexico City, I met with Lance at his studio on the second floor of the home he shares with his wife Neila. Wyman remained in Mexico City four-and-a-half more years, designing the identities for the metro system and the 1970 World Cup. Following a series of massive protests and violent repression by the government, Wyman’s graphic language-including the ’68 logo and the dove of peace-plastered the city for a second time when it was subverted by the students as the iconography of protest. ![]() ![]() An expressive and visually successful synthesis of disparate influences, Wyman’s campaign became an exemplary case study of branding and wayfinding design as well as the cornerstone of his pioneering career.Īn unforeseen impact of Wyman’s Olympic identity was how it converged with the surrounding political events of Mexico City as the 1968 Olympic games became the focus of an escalating student movement intent on exposing a corrupt government and nationalist elite for whom the games were an opportunity to advance the international perception of Mexico. ![]() The graphics performed a timely national identity for modern Mexico that was informed by recent economic growth and what was characterized as a harmonious integration of indigenous, post-colonial, and Mestizo cultures. Referencing the black-and-white and vibrantly colored palettes of Huichol yarn paintings, Wyman’s reverberating lines blanketed logos, uniforms, banners, wayfinding materials, and even the stadium’s surroundings with a universally legible geometry suggesting the vibratory confluence of ancient and modern. Following ten days of immersive research, Wyman developed a winning campaign that combined the stylings of pre-Hispanic and Mestizo art, local sign painting, and 1960s Op Art. In 1966, at age twenty-nine, Lance Wyman, a New York-based graphic designer bought a one-way ticket to Mexico City to bid for the graphic identity of the 1968 Summer Olympics, the first games ever hosted by a Latin American country. ![]()
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