Ideo is passed design of the Commonwealth baton

Ideo Product Development has been appointed to design and manufacture the baton for the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Jubilee Baton Relay, which will be unveiled by The Queen on 5 October.

The Queen’s Jubilee Baton Relay is the Commonwealth Games equivalent of the Olympic Torch Relay. The baton will be launched five months prior to the beginning of the relay at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Brisbane, Australia.

Ideo beat Priestman Goode, Factory Design and Tangerine in a creative pitch that carried a £500 pitch fee. The budget for the project, which includes the design and manufacture of three batons, their carrying cases and a pedestal upon which the baton will sit during relay celebrations, is £40 000.

‘The brief for the project is to create something that inspires people, to create a focal point for the relay. New technologies need to be looked at and incorporated into the design and manufacture of the baton,’ says The Queen’s Jubilee Baton Relay director Di Henry.

On Commonwealth Day, 11 March 2002, the baton will leave Buckingham Palace for an international tour around the countries of the Commonwealth, arriving back in the UK on 6 June 2002. It will then pass through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, The Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and England before arriving at the Opening Ceremony on 25 July 2002, where the Queen will read the message contained within it.

Meanwhile, seven production companies have approached the relay’s organising committee over the creation of a celebration stage which will appear at a town or city at the end of each day of the UK leg of the relay.

An appointment will be made in autumn and the appointed team will be expected to provide design services via an in-house team or by contracting.

The Commonwealth Games is dedicated to the principals of democracy and equality among nations, while the relay is about ‘celebrating diversity’.