Adrian Shaughnessy

Wyman took traditional motifs, mostly from Huichol Indian culture, and inspired by a now famous exhibition of Op Art in New York, devised a synthesis of folk motifs with geometric modernity. This proved successful in building a picture of Mexico that was simultaneously rooted in tradition and also undeniably modern.

Today, we marvel at Wyman’s graphic ingenuity. But not everyone is enthralled. Some contemporary commentators have sought to diminish Wyman’s role in the work, and to make the case for a greater involvement from local Mexican designers. Wyman does not deny that some work had already been done in this area by a small team of students. But as the following interview shows he is also clear about what he did, and perhaps more importantly, where he drew his inspiration from and why he did what he did.

But it illustrates a problem that often happens when designers and artists use indigenous art. In a post-colonial world such usage of visual material is often seen as the equivalent of a land grab. I have come to know Wyman well, and his profound love and respect for Mexican culture, in my view, absolves him of accusations of cultural theft. He has never tried to hide his debt to indigenous culture – quite the opposite.

AS: Can you describe the two weeks you spent in Mexico attempting to win the contract to design the graphics for Mexico 68?

LW: We were given the task of designing something to represent the games in Mexico. The only specific instructions we were given by the director Ramírez Vázquez was that he wanted Mexico to look like a modern country. ‘Certainly not the country that’s expressed with the Mexican guy sleeping under the cactus tree with the sombrero!’ he said.

I spent most of that first week at the Museum of Anthropology, and I really got in touch with the old cultures. Those pre-Hispanic cultures had some of the best designers in the world. It was a whole new thing for me to really get in touch with. Also, going out into the streets and looking at the shop signs, and just being in the vibrancy of that Mexico City environment. There’s a lot of humour; there’s a lot of colour; there’s a lot of ingenious things that are done. It was really stimulating.  

Then, in the second week we started work on the design. We worked and worked and worked – but nothing was happening. Then I hit on the fact that the geometry of the Olympic rings could generate the numerals 6 and 8. The three-line structure of the 68 evolved into the letterforms for the word ‘Mexico’, and ultimately the Mexico 68 typeface. We had a logo that identified the event, the place, and the year. It was the discovery of the geometry of the rings being able to generate the 68 that was the beginning of everything.

AS: Was the incorporation of traditional motifs part of the brief?

LW:  No, it really wasn’t part of the brief at all.

AS: I’ve read that Op Art was also an influence?

LW: Shortly before we left New York there had been an Op Art show at the Museum of Modern Art. People like Bridget Riley … the energy and movement that she got out of a static image … the visual movement was just so beautiful. There were a lot of examples, but she’s the one that sticks out. Initially we weren’t thinking in terms of a black and white logo for Mexico 68, but once we had it in black and white, it was obvious that it was a very powerful pattern. There were a lot of patterns within that, and they all worked with each other. So yes, we had Op Art, which was contemporary at that time. But we also had the folk art – imagery that really brought you back to some of those early cultures. Not that I’d say to anyone, ‘Well, I’m going to make a pre-Columbian something. I’m going to make something that’s folk art.’ I just hit on a form that could be used in a very bold manner.

AS: There is some controversy surrounding authorship of the Mexico 68 graphics. Questions of authorship and attribution are prevalent within graphic design where it is often necessary to incorporate pre-existing motifs to make effective communication, and where collaboration (resulting in co-authorship of ideas) is often present. In a long article in Eye magazine there was an attempt to diminish your role in the Mexico Olympic design program. How do you respond to this? 

LW: I remember seeing the Eye article back in 2005 and feeling really surprised. In general, the coverage of the Mexico 68 program in the article was very positive, but many of the specifics were incorrect and misleading. Prior to the article I had a lengthy interview with Daoud Sarhandi, one of the authors. Very little of my interview was in the article, and what was published regarding the logo design was inaccurate and should have been fact checked. For example, I told Daoud that I had designed the Mexico 68 logotype and described the process in detail. None of this was mentioned, yet other claims and accounts were noted. All of this could and should have been fact-checked.

One of the major Mexican Olympic Committee publications, issued during the time we were designing the program, clearly describes my role as designer of the Mexico 68 logotype. An article in Olympic Newsletter 21 – ‘Alphabet for the Games of the XIX Olympiad’ it says: ‘This type, called “Mexico 68” was developed from the logotype created by Lance Wyman, graphics designer of the Organizing Committee, to identify the Games of the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City’. The text goes on to describe how the logotype was formed and how the resulting typography was used. I designed the logotype in December 1966 and was a hands-on Director of Graphic Design up until the opening of the games in October 1968. I have other issues with the article, but this is the most important one to me. I’m glad to have the opportunity to set the record straight.

AS: Subsequently, Eye published a letter from Eduardo Terrazas (director of Urban Design Program) and Beatrice Trueblood (Director of Publications) refuting a great deal of the what was written by Sarhandi, and his co-author Carolina Rivas. Their letter lists a number of ‘errors, omissions and faults in perception or interpretation of information’ by the writers. They give you more credit for your contribution than the original authors did, but their recognition is still somewhat muted. Is it a fair assessment of your contribution?

LW: Beatrice and Eduardo did improve on what the original writers cited but I can’t call it a fair assessment. I will comment on their points based on what I experienced at the time. The sports symbol designs were started by a group of students before I arrived in Mexico. I developed what they had started, designed new symbols and refined the entire collection to its final form. I designed the alphabet based on the letterforms in the Mexico 68 logotype. I drew it by hand with my assistant, Jose Luis Ortiz. I independently designed the third, fourth and final inauguration edition of the Olympic stamps, a total of 30 stamps. We made posters out of the third and fourth editions which depicted the nineteen sports events with black silhouettes on solid colour backgrounds. I designed and drew the nineteen cultural symbols from scratch with Jose Luis Ortiz and Beatrice Colle.

AS: During your time working on the Olympic programme in Mexico, was there any sense in which you, as a non-Mexican, were resented? Did you come across any kind of prejudice?

LW: I never had a feeling of being a ‘Gringo,’ because I don’t think I was. I melted into the culture. I was working with, and for, the Mexicans, and in a way, I became part of them. I loved the Mexican sense of humour. Mexico became the soul of my career as a graphic designer and through the work I did there I have, in my heart at least, become a Mexican.

Interview is an edited version taken from the book Lance Wyman: The Monograph. Eds: Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook (Unit Editions, 2015).