Designing the Olympics: Wallpaper* interviews Joachim Roncin, director of design for Paris 2024

Joachim Roncin is the director of design for the Paris 2024 Olympics. A renowned design maven in Paris and beyond, Roncin has previously held roles as creative director for the Ballon d’Or, France’s annual football award, and Cérémonie des César, France’s national film awards ceremony. The Olympics is on a different scale, of course. This has been a five-year assignment with a sprawling, impossibly broad scope, a hard deadline, a global audience and – ideally – a positive legacy that will span generations of future citizens. The heat is real.

Wallpaper* sat down with Joachim to take his temperature just days before Paris 2024 kicks off.

Joachim Roncin on designing the Olympics

Wallpaper*: How do you feel right now?

Joachim Roncin: I’m in a strange limbo state. I’ve been a designer for 25 years, but nothing compares to the Olympics and Paralympics as a client. It is the pinnacle. It has been five years since we started working with them, and suddenly the games begin in a few days. Our work is not quite done, but there is not much more that we can do at this stage.

W*: How do you begin to describe the design process for an entity like the Olympics?

JR: It is madness, of course. Everything collides. There is so much to do, so many people involved, so many different challenges and opportunities. In the morning you’re trying to understand how to manufacture a fluffy mascot, then you’re talking about medals, then the torch, then the posters. It’s very strange to jump between so many different media; at times I thought my brain might explode. And then suddenly everything is real all at the same time – all those hours, all those people, all those discussions. And it all happens now.

W*: Five years of commissioning leads up to a single deadline that is then celebrated for just sixteen days. How important is legacy in your design role?

JR: Legacy is obviously very important. Our design work and the games themselves are ephemeral to some degree, but longer-term impact is what’s really important. Design is not just decoration for the event. Equally in our process, I’ve tried not to feel overwhelmed by thinking of enduring legacy when it comes to mascot design, for instance. There is a job to be done, and it is overwhelming enough, without going crazy about progress in a wider sense in every single detail.

W*: Did you have shared objectives across the entirety of your scope, from uniforms to posters to medals and beyond?

JR: Early on we devised three messages that are evident in all our work in varying degrees, I’m proud to say. First: sport should be liberated beyond the stadium and arenas, to be accessible to everyone. Second: we must bring the Olympics and the Paralympics together to be equally important. Third: we want to celebrate parity between men and women, which for the first time ever at an Olympics is 50/50.

W*: How are these objectives expressed in some of your projects?

JR: Our mascot, Phryges, is based on the Phrygian hat, which is a powerful emblem in France on everything from coins to stamps. Phryges is gender-free, which feels appropriate because this is the society we live in. Toys should be for everyone, and not gendered. That said, we had some people who worried it looked less like a Phrygian hat and more like a clitoris. If it helps men to understand what a clitoris looks like, then I am happy.

W*: That’s Olympic legacy in action.

JR: Sure. The posters for the Olympics are another interesting case study for our messages. We have designed two posters – one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics – that combine to become one. Artist Ugo Gattoni worked with us to create an image that is of Paris. It is not the logo and the dates, or the muscled athletes from pre-1950s that felt like propaganda. The posters show the games and city as one entity. It felt important that it is crafted, showcasing French savoir faire more than soulless AI. Gattoni spent almost 2,000 hours on the posters. Every single person is unique. There is no copy/paste. In past games, organisers sell around 10,000 posters. We are almost at 100,000 already.

W*: Paris itself is quite literally woven into the design of several elements too. Tell me more.

JR: We worked with Chaumet to design the medals using actual iron from the Eiffel Tower. The medals have been fabricated by the Monnaie de Paris, who make our French coins. We have worked with Le Coq Sportif and Decathlon on the volunteer uniforms, and with LVMH on the uniforms for the people who hand out the medals. The spirit of Paris is embedded in so much of the design language and expression.

W*: The colour palette is refreshingly devoid of nostalgia – it doesn't feel like a children's TV programme either.

JR: The colours are all from Paris and France too; green from the roof of the Paris Opera; yellow from Matisse; red for the mood of love. We chose pink as the unifying colour across the palette because I feel that pink should be genderless. These are the times we live in. Let’s start some revolutions. It has been wonderful to see bicycle lanes elsewhere in the city painted pink, which have had nothing to do with us.

W*: Has it been a struggle to fight for your design mandate at times?

JR: The biggest challenge in any design process is helping powerful people understand what design is and why it matters. I am deeply moved by design and art; sometimes you come up against people who don’t speak the same language. I’ve been fortunate here that Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024, from the very beginning said he wanted to put design at the centre of our Olympics.

W*: Back to that thorny word ‘legacy’… What will people feel about Paris 2024 in 2050?

JR: I think our greatest achievement has been how little we have built that is new. Refurbish, adapt and use what we have were our original goals and we have fulfilled these. The Olympic village will become student housing. Our eyes have not been bigger than our stomachs. This approach means a lot will vanish come September, but it also means we have been one of the least expensive Olympics in history.

W*: Congratulations. Will you be able to enjoy the event, or will you be mentally snagging every time you spot something that’s not quite how you imagined it?

JR: I will enjoy them! I used to be a skateboarder so I’m particularly excited about the boarding, which takes place in Place de la Concorde, alongside the BMX, breakdancing and basketball. It will become an urban park with artists and musicians alongside the sports, where the public can soak up everything for just €24. I also love everything in the water, and the fencing, which is such a pure, graphic sport.

W*: And dare I ask what’s next?

JR: I can’t wait to hand over the baton to LA 2028! I’m impatient to see what they do. When you have the honour of designing for the Olympics, they hold a special place in your heart forever more. That said, from 15 September I will take a holiday. Perhaps a retreat in the forest.

W*: Anything else?

JR: I’d like to thank Camille Yvinec, who has led the brand identity, and Juliane Philibert, who has kept the show on the road. Both have championed and supported and enabled me throughout this process, and their support and teamwork have been incredible. At times I’ve been a pain – for which I’m sorry. But on the whole, what a nice ride we have had together. Thank you.