New logo: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was won by Azerbaijan's entry, Running Scared with Eldar & Nigar, and that means the Caucasian nation's state broadcaster will be allowed to host this year's competition, and they have chosen for it to take place in the capital of Baku. Azerbaijan has invested heavily in winning the ESC in its efforts to put the country on the map, which also includes two bids to host the Summer Olympics.

While the ESC has used a standard logo since 2004, the broadcasters are also encouraged to produce a supporting identity that makes each contest stand out, internally known as "theme art". The identity for this year's competition was unveiled yesterday, January 25, and is centered around the slogan Light your fire!, a follow-up to last year's Feel your heart beat!. Azerbaijan is sometimes known as "the Land of Fire", and the identity features lots of flames. The central motif is a sort of "flame flower".

The identity was created by London design agency Turquoise, who also designed last year's contest. While the logo and related graphics were unveiled yesterday, the on-air graphics are still under development.
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Eurovision Song Contest 2011

For my non-European readers, the Eurovision Song Contest is a music competition, arranged annually by the European public broadcasters through the European Broadcasting Union. This year's edition started yesterday. The second semi-final is tomorrow and grand final takes place on Saturday. Germany is the host country this year, as they won the competition last year.

Every year, the host broadcaster produces a new visual identity and graphics package for their broadcast. Since 2004, there has been a standardised logo to symbolise the competition each year, but the host broadcaster usually produces a unique identity ("theme art") around this logo.

This year's host, NDR, turned to the London motion design agency Turquoise the develop the contest's identity. The visual identity was revealed on January 13 and is based on the slogan "Feel your heart beat!", and the symbol is a "pulsating" heart made up of light rays in different and varying colours. It is called a "heart marque", and is used in throughout much of the identity. In the presentations for individual participating countries it is coloured after their respective national flags.

An identity toolbox with the most important visual elements.

The main version of the identity,
as presented on January 13.

Turquoise have summarised their thinking like this:

Based on the line ‘Feel your heart beat!’, our new visual identity has been designed to migrate seamlessly across visual mediums as both an energetic and uplifting static identity as well as a dynamic animation in all on-screen graphics.

They are also promising much more information after the event.
 
Turquoise have posted a great montage of the branding work they did for the song contest. You should watch all of it, but it also contains a bunch of visuals that must be shared as still images.
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