Cobi (the official mascot of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics)

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics were an act of nation branding as Spain emerged from a dictatorship into a democracy. The emblem, designed by Josep Maria Trias (the brushstroke figure leaping over the Olympic rings), is color-coded deliberately using the blue of the Mediterranean, the yellow of the sun, and vivid reds that echo back to Miró in style and color (that hand-drawn loose style based around spontaneity), rather than more rigid corporate geometry from earlier designs. The mascot Cobi, by Javier Mariscal, is a Catalan sheepdog imitating the cubist style in reference to Picasso, specifically Las Meninas. This logo was initially controversial, as some found it too weird, and Catalans instead wanted a Miró- or Gaudí-based figure, but later on became more popular amongst the crowd when it was actually used. Critically, the Olympic Games had to project two identities at once: Spain and Cataluña, so most signage appeared in Catalan, Spanish, English, and French, and Catalan groups used the world spotlight to campaign for recognition (“Freedom for Catalonia”). 

Barcelona’s 1992 mascot is particularly interesting because it shows a nation-state using design not to depict what it is but to declare what it wants to become. During this time, Spain was emerging from 40 years of dictatorship under Francisco Franco and had spent roughly 17 years adapting to democracy. The emblem and the playful cubist dog are, in a way, claiming Spain as a more modern, playful, open, and Mediterranean identity. In a way, we can view this design as a way of manufacturing a national identity as Spanish identity is something that design actively produces, rather than simply represents. However, the design has a much more complicated relationship between its national and regional identity. For context, it is important to understand this tension, as Spain is not culturally or even linguistically homogeneous. Catalonia is in the northeastern region (where Barcelona is located), and it has its own language (Catalan), as well as its own cultural identity and long history of seeking political autonomy with movements for independence. These identities have come into conflict with the country’s efforts to maintain a unified national identity. This is where it gets tricky, as Cobi is not exactly a Spanish national symbol; he’s a Catalan sheepdog. Cobi therefore is quite ambiguous; he is an official mascot of the Olympic Games representing Spain, yet he emerges from a distinctly Catalan context, so there is difficulty in separating regional identity from national identity. As an official, state-sanctioned design, it couldn’t produce a single unified “Spain,” contextualizing that its core Spanish identity is always a negotiation between the nation and its regions.