The One Show
The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising and design. For over 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.
Learn more about The One Show 2026
You have exceeded your allotted number of views.
For full access to our extensive awards archive
Members Login Here
For full access to our extensive awards archive
Members Login Here
Category
Spatial Design / Experiential & Immersive
Annual ID
OS25_DE111M
Background
Paris is a city of clichés, endlessly reproduced in postcards and pop culture. For the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the challenge was to go beyond the expected and create a visual and spatial experience that truly belongs to Parisians while welcoming the world. Instead of a static, decorative "Look of the Games," we aimed to transform Paris itself into an immersive, living stage where sport, culture, and identity merge.
The ambition: design a spatial experience that reflects the open, inclusive, and dynamic nature of the Games, breaking with traditional host city branding to create something both iconic and flexible, rooted in Parisian life rather than postcard Paris.
The ambition: design a spatial experience that reflects the open, inclusive, and dynamic nature of the Games, breaking with traditional host city branding to create something both iconic and flexible, rooted in Parisian life rather than postcard Paris.
Creative Idea
Rather than imposing a predefined aesthetic, Design Wide Open was conceived as an interactive and evolving urban scenography, turning the city into an active participant in the Games. Inspired by the iconic Parisian cobblestones, the design system created a modular, adaptable grid that could be reinterpreted across various spaces—from competition venues to fan zones, public squares, and cultural sites.
This immersive spatial design was not about applying a logo to the city; it was about revealing Paris through the Games and the Games through Paris. The framework allowed each location to express its own identity, ensuring a cohesive yet personalized experience across all event spaces.
This immersive spatial design was not about applying a logo to the city; it was about revealing Paris through the Games and the Games through Paris. The framework allowed each location to express its own identity, ensuring a cohesive yet personalized experience across all event spaces.
Insights & Strategy
Paris is a living city, not a museum. The goal was to create a spatial language that Parisians could recognize as their own while making it engaging for visitors. To do so, the approach blended:
• Cultural authenticity: Grounded in everyday Parisian elements like the paving stones, blending sport with urban life.
• Flexibility & immersion: A modular system allowing each location—venues, streets, landmarks—to take part in the Games in its own way, ensuring engagement at every scale.
• Participation: Encouraging interaction with the visual language through live activations, digital extensions, and public spaces transformed into immersive sport experiences.
This strategic approach turned the entire city into an experiential arena, beyond traditional stadiums and competition sites.
• Cultural authenticity: Grounded in everyday Parisian elements like the paving stones, blending sport with urban life.
• Flexibility & immersion: A modular system allowing each location—venues, streets, landmarks—to take part in the Games in its own way, ensuring engagement at every scale.
• Participation: Encouraging interaction with the visual language through live activations, digital extensions, and public spaces transformed into immersive sport experiences.
This strategic approach turned the entire city into an experiential arena, beyond traditional stadiums and competition sites.
Execution
The cobblestone grid became the foundation of a playful and immersive design system, integrated across key urban and event spaces:
• Fields of play: Iconic venues like the Stade de France and Place de la Concorde incorporated the pattern to merge sports with the city’s heritage.
• Fan zones & urban takeovers: Public squares, metro stations, and cultural sites were transformed into interactive, sports-infused experiences using the design as a wayfinding and engagement tool.
• Responsive environments: Digital projections and dynamic installations reacted to audience movement and performances, ensuring a constantly evolving atmosphere.
• Brand & partner activations: Sponsors and partners leveraged the framework to design immersive brand experiences that felt organically part of Paris 2024 rather than external advertising.
Every space became a canvas, offering a layered, multi-sensory experience where people could feel, move through, and interact with the Games.
• Fields of play: Iconic venues like the Stade de France and Place de la Concorde incorporated the pattern to merge sports with the city’s heritage.
• Fan zones & urban takeovers: Public squares, metro stations, and cultural sites were transformed into interactive, sports-infused experiences using the design as a wayfinding and engagement tool.
• Responsive environments: Digital projections and dynamic installations reacted to audience movement and performances, ensuring a constantly evolving atmosphere.
• Brand & partner activations: Sponsors and partners leveraged the framework to design immersive brand experiences that felt organically part of Paris 2024 rather than external advertising.
Every space became a canvas, offering a layered, multi-sensory experience where people could feel, move through, and interact with the Games.
Results
The immersive approach to spatial design successfully redefined how a city can host the Olympic Games:
• Engagement: Increased public participation in the Games beyond ticketed events, bringing the Olympic spirit to everyday urban life.
• Cohesion & Identity: A unified yet customizable visual system that allowed each host city, venue, and partner to feel part of a bigger whole, reinforcing Paris 2024’s vision of openness.
• Legacy impact: Unlike traditional ephemeral event branding, this approach inspired new ways to integrate sport, design, and public space in urban life, influencing future citywide activations.
• Media & brand adoption: The design was embraced not just by official venues but also by major brands, media platforms, and cultural institutions, amplifying its reach and impact.
By making Paris itself the stage, Design Wide Open didn’t just decorate the city—it invited people to experience the Games as part of its very fabric.
• Engagement: Increased public participation in the Games beyond ticketed events, bringing the Olympic spirit to everyday urban life.
• Cohesion & Identity: A unified yet customizable visual system that allowed each host city, venue, and partner to feel part of a bigger whole, reinforcing Paris 2024’s vision of openness.
• Legacy impact: Unlike traditional ephemeral event branding, this approach inspired new ways to integrate sport, design, and public space in urban life, influencing future citywide activations.
• Media & brand adoption: The design was embraced not just by official venues but also by major brands, media platforms, and cultural institutions, amplifying its reach and impact.
By making Paris itself the stage, Design Wide Open didn’t just decorate the city—it invited people to experience the Games as part of its very fabric.
2025 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
W Conran Design / Boulogne-Billancourt
Client / Brand
Paris 2024 COJOP / Paris
Chief Design Officer
Joachim Roncin
Creative Director
Jean-Jacques Charrais
Editor
Joao Leao
Executive Creative Director
Gilles Deléris
Producer
Ana Casagrande
Felipe Silvani
Awards Director
Sophie Lacheze
Brand Identity Associate Director
Camille Yvinec
Case Art Director
Landry Stark
Marcelo Bruzzesi
Creation and ceremony executive director
Thierry Reboul
Deputy Managing Director
Chloé Thomas
General Manager in charge of Strategies
Anaïs Guillemané-Mootoosamy
Project Manager
Maureen Perez-Guichard
Senior Brand Designer
Axel Leclerc
Senior brand project manager
Emilie Cren
Vice-President
Martin Piot
Related Awards
