At first, I thought I would illustrate a cyclist by using a stock photograph (Fig 1). However, this image had a lot of detail and I felt it did not portray minimalism. Therefore, I was inspired by the clean and concise pictograms used at the Munich 1972 Olympics, designed by Otl Aicher (Fig 2). Aicher used a strict grid system to create his pictograms (Armin, 2008).

I decided to use similar pictograms in my design (Fig 3).

Fig 1: Image of bicycle image.
Source: 123ref.com (2012) Available at: http://www.123rf.com/photo_4582494_cyclist.html [Accessed 8 December 2012]

Fig 2: Image of Otl Aicher’s pictograms for the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Source: Olt Aicher and history behind the cycling pictogram (2010). Available at:  http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2010/01/otl-aicher-and-history-behind-cyclng.html [Accessed 20 December 2012]

Fig 3: My version of Olt Aicher’s pictogram to suit my requirements for my poster. Created in Illustrator.

Using these pictograms in my design also encourages multilingual use of the posters as they are internationally recognised and understood.

References:
Armin (2008) Otl Aicher: An Expanded, Abridged Story. Available at: http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/004931.html. [Accessed 23 December 2012]