In 1968 Mexico City hosted the Summer Olympics. Their branding was conceived by American designer Lance Wyman and Mexican Eduardo Terrazas. Wyman is the designer of the famous Obama 08 poster with similar aesthetics to that of Mexico 68. Typography is almost illegible, covered with lines and geometrical shapes, and it recalls the patterns of the Huichole Indians.

The whole communication and signals system developed for the Olympics gave the definitive touch to what can be considered Modern Mexico. It was the first time the country organized a major international event and a great opportunity to show the world what Mexico was. The lineal typography worked perfectly as a way of identifying places. There was no need to add the word “Olympic” to a sign saying “Village” because the font itself made it evident that that location was Olympic.

When trying to explain the ideas behind his Olympics branding, Terrazas referred to the social and political commitment of a generation of Mexican artists that didn’t create for themselves, but rather for the others. This opposed to those who create under a speculative exercise, those who produce without considering their reality.

Following this concept, Terrazas puts himself as one of the last artists on a path that has Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The path of the muralists, of those whose work cannot be conceived without reference to the place they are located in and the people they live with.