The existing Olympic pictograms were created by a German graphic designer, Otl Aicher for the Munich Olympics in 1972. When the Olympic pictograms were used in Munich, they were extremely successfu. At the following Olympics in Montreal they were used again. Even today, the very same pictogram is used in different styles. Over the course of time, the look of the Olympic pictograms has changed and several pictograms have been added and created for the new Olympic sports. Softball is one game that has been added to the Olympic games since 1996. Softball has similar game rules as baseball.
the olympic baseball and softball pictogram from olympic.org
As you see there is not much of a difference between baseball and softball. In fact, there is no clue to distinguish these pictograms causing confusion between the two. In this respect, baseball and softball ASOTYPEs not only show, but also demonstrate the difference between the two. The distinct characteristic of softball is the pitcher's underhand motion when she throws the ball.
In the case of the existing modern pentathlon and triathlon, the pictograms exhibit five circles above a human shape and three circles above a human shape respectively. The five circles represent shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running in the pentathlon, while the three circles represent swimming, running and cycling in the triathlon. However, if people do not know these sports these circles could mean anything games, potentially activities, tools, facilities or people. The variations are endless and the pictograms do successfully serve their function. The improved pentathlon and triathlon ASOTYPEs reveal the content of these games and give people the information about what the events consist of.
Ultimately, sports ASOTYPE demonstrates how motion helps to communicate the lack of visual information of the existing Olympic Pictograms.
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