Tumblr Tuesday: Olympic Non-Events 2012

Welcome to our twenty-third Tumblr Tuesday, where every Tuesday we celebrate our love of Tumblr by interviewing the mastermind behind a new blog. Tumblr, a New York City based startup, is like the FFFFound for the rest of the world. It’s as shareable and fast-paced as Twitter but populated with more in-depth text and rich images.

Yesterday, we announced that Tumblr is now serving 120 million people and 15 billion pageviews every month! But Tumblr’s founder and CEO David Karp admits that one area the blogging network hasn’t performed well enough at thus far is content discovery – which is what our weekly column Tumblr Tuesday is all about.

For this week’s Tumblr Tuesday, we’re crossing the pond to catch up with London-based graphic designers Gareth Howat, Jim Sutherland, Rory Brady who’ve created the witty, stick-figured Tumblr: Olympic Non-Events 2012.

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CBM: What was the inspiration behind this blog? The Apple on the head moment, so to speak.

Jim Sutherland: We had the idea for this 20 years ago, but never got round to doing it. Now seemed like a good time. There’s a lot of slick, sponsorship advertising happening now, and we wanted to do something simple.

CBM: There’s quite a bit of moaning going on about the Olympics coming to London because of how it will congest the city… what are your thoughts on this?

JS: It’s easy to knock the organisation. I think it’s an amazing thing overall. Some things won’t go so well, but let’s enjoy it.

CBM: Did you hear your tube is getting free WiFi?

JS: No, I hadn’t heard that. I wish we could escape being in touch constantly. The tube is a sanctuary from mobile phones, email and twitter. It’s a shame.

CBM: What are your plans for the Olympics 2012 in London?

JS: To enjoy it. We are lucky to live in London.

CBM: Do you have a favorite Olympic sport? What is it?

JS: Archery or table tennis.

CBM: Did you play any sports growing up?

JS: Rugby, football, cricket, table tennis.

CBM: Which non-event do you think you’d win? And why?

JS: Probably Wrestling with my conscience. I worry a lot.

CBM: What are your plans for this Tumblog in the future?

JS: Just keep adding to it, and seeing what suggestions come in.

CBM: What other Tumblrs do you love that we should know about?

JS: I don’t know enough. There are some amazing things out there it’s hard to keep up. This is our first one, I think we might do more.

Hope you enjoyed this! Also, check out our Tumblr Tuesday from weeks’ past:

image credit: Rob Byron via shutterstock

Story by Courtney Boyd Myers

Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr (show all) Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally. Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter @CBM and Google +.