While flipping through a tabloid this weekend, an M&M ad caught my eye. It featured Mary Lou Retton’s M&M character sticking a perfect dismount. A perfect 10. And instead of the ad causing me to crave that “melt-in-your-mouth” chocolate, it made me sad. Why? Because the “perfect 10″ is no more. The scoring system is different now. A 17-point scale will be used for the first time at the Beijing Olympics. “Perfect 17″ just doesn’t have the same ring.

As a kid, I was glued to the TV when gymnastics were on, eagerly watching and waiting to see which tiny tumbler would nail his/her routine. I remember Mary Lou’s “perfect 10″ vault in 1984. What a moment in Olympic history! That score was as much a part of their brand as Mary Lou Retton herself. Even though the new system is supposed to be more accurate/fair and encourage a higher degree of difficulty, I’m still sad to see the old system go. RIP perfect 10.

So you’re probably wondering what a “fuwa” is, right?  Fuwa is a Chinese word that translates roughly as “Lucky Kids”. And what does that have to do with the Olympics? Until I read the Business Week article about the 2008 Beijing Olympic emblem I had no idea either.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games held a design competition for the official Olympic emblem. Nearly 2,000 entries were submitted, but only one made the cut — ”Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing”. The officials and the state council felt that this design encompassed both the ancient past and current aspirations of China in a way that would improve the country’s international image.

The logo has two components. One is a human form that looks like a Chinese character above the main Olympics logo and the words “Beijing 2008″. And the second features five playful bears called “Fuwa” drawn in a traditional Asian style. The winning designer, Han Meilin, was “inspired by a folk artist’s depiction of five babies representing the traditional five Chinese elements that constitute the world, such as water and fire”. Since there are five bears, each one uses a color from the five Olympic rings. And their headgear is a reflection of traditional motifs from Chinese culture.

While only the Chinese will recognize and appreciate this symbolism, the emblem will be hard to escape in Beijing — appearing as mascots at games and on floats, plastered on posters and banners throughout the city, embroidered on 80,000 staff uniforms and other memorabilia, like a complete set of action figures.

Designing a logo that may appear on an entrance sign at an office park is exciting to me. I couldn’t imagine designing an Olympic logo for the world stage. Han Meilin, I commend you.

If you were a car, what would you be? Answers to questions like this are fun to think about. But what if you had to visually represent what you stood for in a logo? And then, share your personal logo with the entire country? That’s what the designers behind the presidential candidates’ campaigns had to think about while developing their logos. Needless to say, I’m sure the symbols, colors and fonts were carefully selected. And rightfully so. A brand says alot about you, whether you realize it or not.

So what do the candidates’ logos say about them? We did a quick analysis of the symbols used in John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s logos this week to find out.

McCain’s logo features a five-point star centered above his last name. According to Maggie McNab, author of Decoding Design, a five-point star is a symbol associated with life and power. “Five is the number of life and love and the number assigned to humanity.” But a star also stands for power, which could explain why they are found on many flags around the world. McCain’s star was stylized to look like the U.S. military decoration awarded for heroism or meritorious achievement.

Obama’s logo is a circle, or his initial “O”, centered above his last name and the year ‘08. According to McNab, a circle stands for wholeness, unity, integrity, inclusion, power and connectedness. There are also three red stripes cutting across the circle, creating the illusion of a sun rising above (or setting behind) rolling hills. The shapes associated with three stand for dimension and inspiration. The stripes also look very patriotic, like a crop of the red stripes on the American flag.

While we can’t do magic tricks or play solitaire with our new deck of cards, we can review 51 research methods, brainstorming exercises and group activities while we shuffle them. I’m obviously not talking about Bicycle playing cards. I’m talking about the IDEO Method Cards. They were developed to inspire professionals looking for creative ways to approach their work. Each of the oversized cards briefly describes a method on one side and has a corresponding photograph on the other. 

Three cards that made me break my poker face were… Bodystorming, Unfocus Group and Informance. 

Curious to learn more? Check ‘em out.