Atlanta 1996

The Atlanta Olympic Games' theme, "A Quilt of Leaves, has been called a "green theme", homespun visuals" , "bland and down home". The theme is said to reflect the city of trees that is Atlanta, the American and particularly Southern nature of quilting, as well as the diverse cultures that make up the city and country. Atlanta is a city of diversity – a patchwork of neighborhoods that forms the quilt of their community." As a unifying element it has been quite successful. An overall pattern is one sure way to achieve a unified look through any number of color changes. The theme ties together banners, the Olympic Torch and Ceremonial Caldron, uniforms of Olympic staff and volunteers as well as buses transporting Olympic visitors. One just has to look at the wide variation in banners to see this. Although manifold in variations of colours and design elements the basic graphic theme holds them together and leaves the overall impression of a very coherent visual expression.

A Quilt of Leaves