Postmodern · 1987–1992 · Southern Europe
Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics
Also known as Cobi, Mariscal style, Barcelona 1992 Olympic mascot
A mascot-led strand of the Barcelona '92 Games, narrowed here to the character and not the emblem or pictograms. Javier Mariscal's Cobi, an orange Catalan sheepdog in a Cubist manner after Picasso's Las Meninas, brought a cartoon grin to the Games, then spread to statues, a fountain and a cartoon series. It was initially criticised by Catalans who felt Mariscal was less worthy than Miro or Gaudi to represent them.
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01
How it works
- Make a drawn character the centre of the mascot graphics, separate from the Games' pictogram and emblem work.
- Draw it with Cubist distortion, such as a nose on the side of the head.
- Keep the figure simple and the tone cheerful so that a national event feels like a street party.
- Take the character off the page into statues, fountains, comics and animation.
- Expect debate: Cobi was initially criticised by Catalans over who should represent Catalonia, and Mariscal's avant-garde style was called controversial.
Barcelona: the Olympic Organising Committee (COOB) and the illustrator Javier Mariscal, who designed the mascot Cobi (unveiled 1987; his own Wikipedia page says it was chosen as official mascot in 1989) and the Paralympic mascot Petra. This entry covers the mascot only, not the Games emblem or the pictogram system.
02
Its design choices
From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.
- Layout & composition
- Space & hierarchy
- Typography
- Colour
- Form & shape
- Surface & texture
- Medium & production
- Tone & intent
- Avoids
- Straight photography, Generous white space, Authoritative & institutional, Abundant decoration, Skeuomorphic material
Palette
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#f28c1c -
#e63027 -
#1e5fb4 -
#f6d523 -
#fbf5e6 -
#1a1a1a
Typefaces
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Hand-drawn lettering
illustrative, no source confirms Barcelona '92 lettering
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Generic rounded hand-drawn comic caps
illustrative, unsourced
Known for
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Cobi mascot, Javier Mariscal
unveiled 1987
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Petra, Paralympic mascot, Javier Mariscal
1992
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Cobi fountain, Barcelona
inaugurated 11 July 1992, per a Barcelona City Council catalogue cited by Wikipedia
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Statues of Cobi playing each of the 28 Olympic sports
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The Cobi Troupe animated series (BRB Internacional) and its six comic albums
03
Make something in this style
Say what you need, and Stylogeny’s image studio draws it from Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics’s design choices and checks it against them. It takes about a minute, and you get a link to share.
04
Where it comes from, and what it’s close to
Before it
The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.
After it
The styles that grew out of it.
No later style in the atlas grew out of it yet.
Alike in its design choices
Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.
05
Often taken for
Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics has no real works recorded yet, so these are its nearest styles by its choices alone, with the choices that tell them apart.
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Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE)
Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning is one of Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics and Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning apart Choice Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning Light ground characteristic — Rounded sans — characteristic Pen, brush & ink defining — App & OS interface — defining Architecture & signage characteristic — No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
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Rubber-Hose Revival (Cartoon Mascot Graphics)
Rubber-Hose Revival is one of Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics and Rubber-Hose Revival apart Choice Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics Rubber-Hose Revival Communal & popular defining — Rounded & pill occasional defining Limited spot colours — characteristic Measured density — characteristic Ornamented display — characteristic No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
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Yuru-chara (Japanese Local Mascot Design)
Yuru-chara is one of Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics and Yuru-chara apart Choice Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics Yuru-chara Pen, brush & ink defining occasional Straight photography avoids occasional Generous white space avoids occasional Rounded & pill occasional defining Limited spot colours — characteristic No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
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Sudanese Revolution Graphics (Digital Illustrations and Sit-in Murals)
Sudanese Revolution Graphics is one of Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics and Sudanese Revolution Graphics apart Choice Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics Sudanese Revolution Graphics Distortion & exaggeration defining occasional Generous white space avoids occasional Playful & witty defining — Hand-lettering occasional defining Motion & broadcast characteristic — No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
— means the choice isn’t among the style’s recorded choices. Critics recorded each work’s choices with the styles’ descriptions in view, so this shows whether the descriptions hold together, not proof that they are right.
06
Combine it with
Styles Cobi and Mariscal's Barcelona '92 Mascot Graphics pairs well with or plays against, from the research. Each is worked out as a combination: which style gives the type, the colours and the forms.
- UPA & Cartoon Modern Pairs well · Shares flat colour and reduced, distorted cartoon figures; borrow its economy of line for a character-led identity.
- Munich 1972 Olympic Design (Otl Aicher) Contrasts · The rational pictogram grid against a single drawn mascot; mixing them shows how much a hand-drawn character loosens an institutional system.
07
Sources
- Wikipedia, Cobi (mascot): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobi_(mascot)
- Wikipedia, Javier Mariscal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javier_Mariscal
- Wikipedia, Cobi (mascot): early Catalan criticism cites The Atlanta Journal, 'The Cobi Controversy', 5 April 1992
- Palette note: only the orange of Cobi is sourced (Wikipedia, 'an orange Catalan sheepdog'); the other swatches are illustrative approximations
How Stylogeny researches and checks a style: where the facts come from.