In 1977, Nikolay Belkov graduated from the evening department of the faculty of industrial art of Leningrad Higher Art and Industrial School named after V. I. Mukhin.
His graduated work was dedicated to a system of pictograms developed by him for all Olympic Sports for the 1980’s Olympics Games.
Of course, the creation of its own graph-semiotic system for the Olympic Games was extremely prestigious.

After finishing his studies at the school, Nikolay Belkov chose to design a set of equipment for pentathletes as his graduation project.
Together with this, he worked on the creation of emblems of the five sports included in the pentathlon.
Having developed dozens of options, he at some point caught the General principle of graphic construction.
In this regard, the idea was born to try to portray all sports as icons.
Schematic images of different sports were once used at the Olympics in London, Tokyo, Munich, Montreal.
Nikolay studied the experience of foreign designers in detail and contrasted their dancing men with a new system of symbols.
The basis for the work was the famous system of icons designed by Otto Aicher that was created for the Olympics in Munich.
However, Belkov managed to create a fundamentally new improved image model.

Unlike Aicher's models, the figures designed by Nikolay Belkov are based on corners of 30° and 60°, rather than 45°-90°-135°, as in the Munich system, which allowed to "revive” the depicted athletes, bringing their movements closer to the real ones.
Belkov's pictograms are built on a new principle: if before the artists left their athletes "levitate" on the empty field of the square, the figures in this case are clearly fixed in space.
He also made it possible to apply images in forward, reverse, contour and reverse contour color solutions.
They can have color and shadow gradations, increase or decrease; greatly reduced, they formed the basis of the Tangier grid and were used in printing tickets and passes.

The system of pictograms was patented and successfully implemented at the Olympic games in Moscow in 1980.
And the graduated work on its development became one of the best final works of the Stieglitz Academy.

The use of icons remains relevant in modern life.
In St Petersburg, for example, the pictogram of a swimmer occupies a rightful place on the emblem of the Swimming Center, which was inaugurated in 2006 on Khlopina Street.
This sports complex is the base for the training of Olympic reserve swimmers.
In 1977, Nikolay Belkov graduated from the evening department of the faculty of industrial art of Leningrad Higher Art and Industrial School named after V. I. Mukhin. His graduated work was dedicated to a system of pictograms developed by him for all Olympic Sports for the 1980’s Olympics Games. Of course, the creation of its own graph-semiotic system for the Olympic Games was extremely prestigious.
After finishing his studies at the school, Nikolay Belkov chose to design a set of equipment for pentathletes as his graduation project. Together with this, he worked on the creation of emblems of the five sports included in the pentathlon. Having developed dozens of options, he at some point caught the General principle of graphic construction. In this regard, the idea was born to try to portray all sports as icons. Schematic images of different sports were once used at the Olympics in London, Tokyo, Munich, Montreal. Nikolay studied the experience of foreign designers in detail and contrasted their dancing men with a new system of symbols. The basis for the work was the famous system of icons designed by Otto Aicher that was created for the Olympics in Munich. However, Belkov managed to create a fundamentally new improved image model.
Unlike Aicher's models, the figures designed by Nikolay Belkov are based on corners of 30° and 60°, rather than 45°-90°-135°, as in the Munich system, which allowed to "revive” the depicted athletes, bringing their movements closer to the real ones. Belkov's pictograms are built on a new principle: if before the artists left their athletes "levitate" on the empty field of the square, the figures in this case are clearly fixed in space. He also made it possible to apply images in forward, reverse, contour and reverse contour color solutions. They can have color and shadow gradations, increase or decrease; greatly reduced, they formed the basis of the Tangier grid and were used in printing tickets and passes.
The system of pictograms was patented and successfully implemented at the Olympic games in Moscow in 1980. And the graduated work on its development became one of the best final works of the Stieglitz Academy.
The use of icons remains relevant in modern life. In St Petersburg, for example, the pictogram of a swimmer occupies a rightful place on the emblem of the Swimming Center, which was inaugurated in 2006 on Khlopina Street. This sports complex is the base for the training of Olympic reserve swimmers.
Nikolay Sergeevich Belkov