One of the most eagerly anticipated design elements of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the sport pictograms were launched today.

The 17 participating sports will be represented by their unique ‘defining moment’ in the iconic images whose primary purpose is to celebrate sport and aid wayfinding to members of the public, athletes and officials. The icons will be prominent on venues, signage, scoreboards and literature during Games-time, but will also feature prominently in marketing and merchandising efforts in the build-up to the Games.

Having built the overarching brand on the themes of time, data and measurement, the ‘defining moment’ aims to represent that split second a gold medal can be won – when an athlete is crossing the finish line, a swimmer is at full reach touching the wall or a badminton player is high in the air striking the winning shot.

Glasgow 2014 Acting Chief Executive, David Grevemberg, said: “We’re delighted to give people the first glimpse of images that will be prominent around the city during Games-time, giving them a taste of the excitement to come. As an ex-athlete myself, I have been particularly passionate about this project because I appreciate their visual and symbolic significance to the overall Games experience as well as their commercial value and appeal.”

The pictogram designs are completely in line with the geometric, concentric rings that have become synonymous with the existing Glasgow 2014 brand. The pictograms have continued this theme using rings to construct the athlete represented in the design and the lines have been tapered to portray muscle definition and movement as accurately as possible.

Committed to delivering an athlete centred and sport focused Games, Glasgow 2014 has gone through an extensive consultation and approval process with some of our leading athletes to ensure the technical accuracy of the 17 designs.

Reigning Scottish Cyclocross and Junior MTB Champion Katy Winton, was part of the design process and revealed: “Glasgow 2014 has looked into finding the most exciting part of the sport which is the sprint finish and being first across the line. Although you may closely associate a sprint finish with the Track event, it also applies to the other disciplines, so as a Mountain Bike athlete I’m really happy about that.

“I was honoured to be asked to take a look at my sport’s pictogram. Looking at the pictograms being produced, along with seeing the progress of the venues such as the Velodrome in the East End and the Mountain Bike track at Cathkin Braes, reminds you that the Games are only three years away which is really exciting.”

Commenting on the efforts made to characterise each individual sport, Scotland and Great Britain Judoka Euan Burton – who won bronze at the World Judo Championships in Tokyo last year, added: “To me, the pictogram for Judo is a good representation of the winning moment and I particularly like the focus on the winning athlete. It’s really smart the way they have gone down the route of using a dynamic move specific to my sport – often you get similarities to Wresting but this pictogram shows something which is very much a Judo technique.

Scotland’s most successful female athlete at Delhi 2010 (with two gold medals and one bronze), Shooter Jennifer McIntosh, said: “I really like the shooting pictogram. I think it’ll be very popular among the athletes and it’s very recognisable to the public as to what sport it represents. It fits in really well with the overall branding of the Games and I’m impressed with how accurate and believable it is.

“I enjoyed being involved in the process and I think it’s really good to get the opinions of the athletes who are hoping to compete at Glasgow 2014.”

The pictograms will be on display to the public for the very first time at the Merchant City Festival over the weekend of 23 and 24 July as Glasgow 2014 celebrates the landmark of ‘Three Years to Go’.

The pictograms