\u201cWhen we first saw the image of the pink cockatoo\u2019s crest set against the black background, you can\u2019t help but notice a flame,\u201d Thomas says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came together in that moment. It felt like that could be the one, but we still had to get around the idea of the cockatoo being a character with a strong personality. So there was a little bit more work to do around that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7027f8e1e485fa75e6a57fc78c6d03f40ea62ab2ac9211608e0b61da2b22a2fb.jpeg\")
This Joel Sartore image of a pink cockatoo at Parrots in Paradise in the Glass House Mountains was the inspiration for the Brisbane 2032 emblem.Joel Sartore<\/p>\n
And work they did. The walls at the design team\u2019s South Bank headquarters are lined with different iterations of the cockatoo logo \u2013 some left-facing, featuring distinctive beaks.<\/p>\n
But, hang on, what if you face it the other way?<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it resembles the shape of Queensland,\u201d Thomas says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there were subtle things. We had six feathers at one stage, so let\u2019s make it five feathers for the five Olympic rings. And what if we just separate them a little bit \u2013 then you have a three and a two, as in \u201932.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Olympic emblem is based on the pink cockatoo, with its fire-coloured crest.<\/p>\n
The Paralympic emblem is based on its cousin, the sulphur-crested cockatoo \u2013 testing showed it was easier for people with vision impairments to see.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f9fbeec8ee6b275879fe3a5a584e072997efb13e.jpeg\")
The sulphur-crested cockatoo inspired the Paralympic emblem.Gary Sissons<\/p>\n
Thomas says although the end product has many layers, none of it felt forced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest part to design was the eye,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cEyes are a nightmare because if you just did a circle, it looked weird, but that\u2019s what a cockatoo\u2019s eye is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter the anthropomorphic flourish \u2013 the shape of an upper cheek, to give the impression of a smile.<\/p>\n
Six distinct segments with six distinct meanings \u2013 the cockatoo, the flame, the shape of Queensland, the year 2032, the eye looking towards Brisbane, and the cheeky attitude.<\/p>\n
Landor general manager Trish Folan says the cockatoo motif \u201cwas definitely a zag\u201d for the whole design team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story was the thing we all fell in love with,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompared to all the other ideas on the table at the time, the story of the cockatoo \u2013 the cheeky personality, that larrikin spirit, the thought that it was quite different for an Olympic emblem \u2013 it was a bit of a risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was also the most interesting thing we were looking at from the start. We all started to gravitate towards it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the layers of meaning \u2013 hidden in plain sight \u2013 just reinforced that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you work on something for so long, you can start to find the ways that it has more meaning,\u201d Folan says.<\/p>\n
![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cd5cfa6ed94c52ddff566e27d1e855451513b46e05bcc2cf3ccf28a1a10dca1c.jpeg\")
Andy Thomas (Landor), Brent Hill (Brisbane 2032), Trish Folan (Landor) and Adam Kennedy (VML) explaining how they created the Brisbane 2032 emblem.Brisbane 2032<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that was a real moment where we went, \u2018Oh gosh, great!\u2019 \u2013 that from the idea that we all love, suddenly we\u2019ve found all these extra meanings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew that was enough to get it across the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople love to dissect Olympic emblems, and you need all those stories. We didn\u2019t set out to build them all in from the start, but as they popped out naturally and started to appear, they felt so normal as part of the design.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Kennedy, the managing director of brand positioning agency VML, had his own Olympic dreams as a younger man \u2013 the would-be Olympian tried out for the British canoe sprint team for both Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.<\/p>\n
Now, Kennedy\u2019s helped shape Brisbane 2032.<\/p>\n
\u201cI finally made it to an Olympics,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
It started to become pretty clear to the team that the cockatoo motif was the winner late last year, Kennedy says, but not before they had gone through about 400 different ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t tell you what came close,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were four emblems on the short list, but this was actually always pretty much everyone\u2019s favourite.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one other that was there or thereabouts, but this one just immediately resonated with most people.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/758f8c09f984faea3efb992fdb1c527deebcf4de9cec1560bfc6101df0682945.jpeg\")
The evolution of the cockatoo design.Brisbane 2032<\/p>\n
\u201cWe explored flora \u2013 a lot of iconic plant life and flowers, etc. We explored other fauna \u2013 the reef was a place that we looked at \u2013 and then other natural landmarks or places. The coastline, the forest, the Brisbane River.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were definitely some places where we said, \u2018don\u2019t play here\u2019 \u2013 we probably didn\u2019t want to use a crocodile, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was important in that decision-making process early on, as we made some strategic calls about not choosing natural icons that would exclude big parts of Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emblem, inadvertently released on Friday night<\/a>, was the culmination of more than four years of blood, sweat and tears, and Kennedy, along with the rest of the design team, is excited \u2013 and nervous \u2013 to finally have it in the public domain.<\/p>\n But he realises it won\u2019t be for everybody, and the rise of artificial intelligence will no doubt result in an avalanche of alternative emblems all over social media.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be a realist on it, and that we live in a world today where anyone who is a non-specialist can jump in and prompt something that they think might be OK,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cMy favourite little line when I get asked this question is \u2013 just because you\u2019ve got a voice doesn\u2019t mean you should sing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat people don\u2019t see is the incredible process behind getting to something that\u2019s simple on a sheet of paper, which starts with a whole heap of research and insight, turns into a brand strategy, and then turns into a design process and a whole heap of craft to get to something as polished and as deep and meaningful as that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, everyone\u2019s welcome to have a go. If other people want to see if they can better it, they\u2019re going to do it anyway. I can\u2019t stop them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just have to stand behind the work that we\u2019ve done and the decisions that we\u2019ve made. And we think we\u2019ve done it all putting Queenslanders and Australians first, and hopefully, they see the joy in it that we see.\u201d<\/p>\n For Brisbane 2032 marketing boss Brent Hill, it\u2019s more than just seeing joy \u2013 it\u2019s seeing the money.<\/p>\n The privately funded organising committee believes the emblem will unlock more revenue streams through commercial partnerships and Brisbane 2032 merchandise that\u2019s already prepared for rollout.<\/p>\n Hill says the International Olympic Committee is excited by the Brisbane 2032 emblem and genuinely impressed by the process by which it was created.<\/p>\n A public campaign for the Australian white ibis, or \u201cbin chicken\u201d, to feature on the emblem<\/a> was noticed, Hill says, and even gave the team the scope to land on the cheeky cockatoo.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were hand in glove [with the designers], late at night, leading into Christmas, agonising over fonts, exact positioning, exact colours,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible journey to be on, and something that you put a lot of time and effort into, but the payoff is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Hill says, the emblem is about putting a face to the Brisbane 2032 name.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4b7504a412a82d1e0b0ad4f55b6abdbf9c49ec41.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2987b9bb2301720928045ba3065feb478c9bb248fc8174ffeebe6f1e4e308242.jpeg\")
The emblems for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.Brisbane 2032<\/p>\n
![\"Brisbane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f928612b3159d82219c3c19dd261f27713fc1abe.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n