With 1,880 days remaining until the London 2012 Games, the people of Stratford — heart of the Olympic Village — have found a common passion.

Young and old, people of every creed and profession, longtime East Enders and recent migrants: all were united yesterday in dislike of the new London 2012 logo.

Sitting on a bench outside Stratford station, Sara Ahmed, 19, an English student from Manor Park, stared at the pink and yellow hieroglyphics. “I thought it might be one of those Magic Eye pictures,” she said.

Mounted on a silver arch above her head, a digital clock is counting down the seconds until the Games begin. Behind her, on the other side of the railway tracks, lies a vast muddy plain inscribed with the tracks of diggers and trucks, where the Olympic Park is to be built.

Beyond that a housing estate and a travellers’ site are to be demolished to make way for the village.

The logo which is to represent this great endeavour would, it was hoped, express a youthful dynamism and appeal to young people such as Ms Ahmed.

“It looks like something from the 1980s,” she said. “One of those weird designs you get on old jumpers. I think they always tend to get it wrong when they try to get a youthful image.”

Perhaps Ms Ahmed was already too old for the 2012 logo, but younger East Enders seemed equally unimpressed. Michelle Vassell, 11, from Ilford, told The Times: “It just looks a bit boring, with only those two colours.”

Outside the shopping centre, Clinton Boucher, 22, from South Africa, was selling miraculously floppy electric keyboards at £10 a time. “It might appeal to a 16-year-old,” he said. “It’s the sort of thing they might write on their notebooks or on their hands, but 16-year-olds aren’t going to watch the Olympic Games. Their target market is wrong. They should be able to find a logo that appeals to adults and 16-year-olds at the same time.” Darrel Crow, 31, a market stallholder, felt that the design was “too busy”. “This looks like a kid’s done it, no disrespect to whoever did it,” he said. “I thought they would have used Tower Bridge or some symbol of London.”

The consensus at the Queen’s Head pub was that the logo should encorporate some icon of East London. Some regulars though the logo ought to carry West Ham’s colours, or a photo of the late Bobby Moore, the team’s famous captain.

Debbie Vince, 48, the licensee, said: “It’s like a jigsaw that hasn’t been put together properly.” Julie Kicks, a secretary, 48, felt the lack of any symbol of London in the logo betrayed a lack of a sense of identity in British society. “London was chosen because it’s a great city but we aren’t allowed to be proud of that,” she said.

A pensioner, E. Mangaron, 72, worried about the cost. “They have spent a lot of money on this. When are the people of Stratford going to see some results?” he said. “They are knocking down houses and a lot of people are being forced to sell, businesses have to move out. The new flats are too expensive for anyone round here to rent.”

Rachel Fraser, 83, came to Stratford after being bombed out of her Canning Town home in the Second World War. She was, she said, far too old for things like the Olympics, but she did like the logo. “It catches your eye,” she said.

Nirali Patel, 20, a law student also thought it was eye-catching. Then she added: “I think we have time to work on it.”

Your views

A truly awful logo. Maybe it was deliberately designed to look terrible so people would take notice and forget the cost. What a shame — a golden opportunity wasted

Phil, Peacehaven

The horrible angular design belies none of the beauty, grace and flowing lines of the sportsmen and women at the pinnacle of world competition. The design indicates no elements of Britishness, or any sense of inclusivity that the multicultural aspect of the Games represent

Chris, Dudley

When did a selection of ill-fitting shapes, pushed uncomfortably together constitute a logo?

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford

A professional graphic designer came up with that? What did he do with the rest of his morning?

Paul, London

This does not scream “the future is now”. It screams “boot-sale paraphernalia”

Ross Hopkins, Canterbury

I work in advertising as a designer and appreciate what it takes to design something as big as a global logo — the constant revisions of a design, the reviews by committee of a shade of colour. But having said all that, Wolff Olins — shame on you!

Julie George, New York City

It’s not too late — please change it. Any child could do much better. This logo says that creativity in Britain is dead. It really does look like a sex act. It will make the UK a laughing stock

Nicholas Halsey, Denmark

It brings the world together in hatred for it. Very clever

Ang Ree, London

I think the logo is great, mostly because it shows that the United States does not have a monopoly on throwing away money.

Ken Morgan, Florida

I note that this is now trademarked. Will my kids now get sued by the Olympic committee every time they glue a pile of shapes on a piece of paper?

Nigel, Norwich

Dear creative people at Wolff Olins, You have successfully captured the essence of the British taxpayer getting shafted

Kathleen King, Stratford-upon-Avon

Everyone I speak to, old or young, hates it

JamboM, London

Bloggers are already reporting it looks like [cartoon character] Lisa Simpson doing something unmentionable

Kirsty Wark on Newsnight

Source: BBC News/Times online