The official poster for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was published at the start of the week, Monday. Since then, a wave of criticism has fallen on the designer Ugo Gattoni. Mainly in the viewfinder, the absence of the cross of the dome of the Invalides, replaced by an arrow. This Thursday evening, Ugo Gattoni, the designer of the poster and Joachim Roncin, design director for Paris 2024, were guests on the Quotidien show and responded to the controversy.
“Ugo worked 2000 hours, at home and without the assistance of a computer. There are a lot of colors, it’s super rich in detail. I wanted us to tell a lot of things. Sport obviously but also sport in the city,” said Roncin first. Before listing the French symbols present on the poster: “The French flag is there. There are roundels, Marianne, the Eiffel Tower… We can see that we are in France! I saw that there were reactions to the Dome: it is an artistic work. The Eiffel Tower is not pink, Paris is not next to Tahiti. We wanted to create a total work with this idea of reunification between the Olympic and Paralympic Games. These are two separate posters that can be put together.”
Ugo Gattoni explained: “I didn’t have a briefing. My job is to create universes. I created the mythology of Paris 2024. It’s a party. I improvised, everything is interpreted. The former Minister of Solidarity and Health and then former government spokesperson Olivier Véran was also invited to the set. And he didn’t fail to comment on the poster: “Your poster, it’s perfect, I love it. We must continue. But these controversies are so problematic for the state of the political debate… Long live your poster and the beauty of the details.”