Design of the tickets for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games is revealed

Paying attention to security, the design of the tickets for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games was revealed this Friday (20.05) at the Organising Committee headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. Presented as the most modern and sophisticated ever, the ticketing programme includes 70 different layouts, encompassing the four ceremonies – opening and closing of the Olympics and the Paralympics – and each sport featuring in both events.

According to the Committee, from the six million tickets available at the moment, around four million have been sold, corresponding to 67% of the total. The first printed tickets left the printers this Thursday. In addition to the official website (rio2016.com/ingressos), box office sales will start in June in 40 sites spread through the competition's four regions in Rio de Janeiro. Tickets will also be sold at the football host cities (Manaus, São Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and Salvador).

Spectators will have the option of printing the tickets at home or downloading them on their phone, option available since 2 May. "The e-ticket will be in a safe environment, requiring a user name and password. We won't send it to anyone's e-mail, the only person that has access to it is the buyer. Thus, don't give it to anyone and don't make any copies. Only the first will be allowed in, the system automatically cancels the copies. In my opinion the e-ticket is safer even, as if you try and sell a ticket on an A4 sheet of paper, no one will buy it", stated Donovan Ferreti, ticketing director of the Rio 2016 Committee. According to the Rio 2016 Committee, it is the first time that the e-ticket is used at such a scale. "In London, they activated this format close to the Games, due to queue related problems. Not here though, we're doing it in a structured way, offering it as an option to pick up your tickets", added Donovan.

Security

All tickets will be validated by bar coded access control systems. "In addition to other things we have on the ticket, which we can't reveal for safety reasons, for the first time we will control access 100%, 100% of the bar codes will be scanned. Therefore, we advise you to not post photos of your tickets on social networks showing the bar code. This avoids counterfeiting", explained Ferreti.

Security is critical to the Games' organisation. Over a year ago, the Rio 2016 Committee set up a group to prevent against the illegal reselling of tickets, as well as counterfeiting. In April this year, they managed to stop 700 tickets being resold illegally on the internet and ten people were charged. The market is constantly monitored, on social networks and several websites. The analysis is forwarded to the police, who investigate and based on the information collected, the tickets are cancelled.

The ticketing director explained that in case a spectator loses his/her ticket, or a batch of tickets does not arrive, there is the option of reprinting them, according to safety terms. In order to do this, the person has to report the problem to the Committee's customer service (3004-2016) as soon as it is detected.

Design

A printers in the United States, expert on the printing of tickets for big events was chosen after a selection process that involved other big international printers. A team made up of over 100 professionals is in charge of the work.

The tickets were designed as an object of desire, which may be kept as a piece of history by spectators who are watching the Games. "We want to be remembered for our contagious energy, for the memorable celebration we'll deliver and for the party that only Brazilians know how to throw. The tickets represent the key to this memorable experience and will feature in the collection of thousands of people the world over", said Rio 2016's brand director Beth Lula.

According to Beth, the challenge was to secure the ticket area operations at the same time as integrating all layouts of the visual language adopted for the Games. Production started in September 2015, with five departments at the Committee working together. "We tried to use our brands' three dimensional quality. The design team was also very careful to supply for the safety related demands, like the holographic seal, the spectator's name", explained Beth Lula.

The Committee's brand director recalled that special attention was paid to the Paralympic Games. For the first time at the Games, pictograms were made for the Paralympic sports. "We want to leave the Paralympic movement with a new look", she explained.

The commemorative ticket, which will be stored away, will have a different design for each subject. The option of having it delivered at home was available until 10 April, but the Committee decided to give spectators another opportunity, as they may request the special tickets until 26 May.

Carol Delmazo and Mateus Baeta - brasil2016.gov.br