As the confetti settled and the RNC wrapped up their convention with members of the Reds and Blues coalescing around their selections, Americans sat back of the awesome selection bestowed upon them. Elect the first African-American candidate with undoubtedly progressive worldviews, if not naive policies, or promote the first women Vice-President in history. But while Governor Sarah Palin quickly earned her party’s vote of confidence, Senator Barack Obama underwent an extensive and undeniably successful campaign just to win his own party’s nomination against an established party figurehead. How did he do it?

We previously discussed a little on the history of political campaign branding and the differences between the three top candidates at the time, Senator Hilary Clinton, Senator John McCain, and Obama. You can see the article here. And while the contribution of branding and design to McCain’s success is a topic up for debate, Obama’s marketing team receives much more accolades for their role in his ascension to a global phenomenon (see poster for his appearance in Germany). Even his harshest critics acknowledge the “O” marketing team has provided much of the backbone and punch in his ability to defeat Clinton for the party nod.

Any analysis of Obama’s design success starts first with the “O”. Previously the short-handed moniker reserved only for Oprah, the “O” has taken on a brand new meaning in the year when American politics became pop culture. There are two key components to the overwhelming success of the Obama logo. The first is the rendering of the “O” itself, a circular template enclosing red and white road leading towards a sunrise. Besides a great use of negative space, the Obama logo also conveys unity and completion through its rounded curves and comforting circular wrap. The smooth lines belie a laser-sharp focus on pushing the message of the Obama campaign. Namely, change. With its candy cane road pointing the way towards a bright, sunny future, the logo stays on point with the foundation of the campaign’s message. The logo was developed by Chicago design studio, Sender LLC. “We were looking at this ‘o’ of his name and had the idea of a rising sun and a new day,” explains Sol Sender. “The sun rising over the horizon evoked a new sense of hope.

One demonstration of reaching out while still keeping branding cohesive is demonstrated on Obama’s website. Already established for its remarkable achievement of harnessing the Internet to connect with its supporters, Obama’s website also features several creative interpretations of his logo. In its “People” section, a different version of the “O” appears for every region and categorization, attempting to establish familiarity and continuity simultaneously. Similarly, each state receives it’s own immersion into the Obama brand creative bucket.

But the “O” logo is only one element of the two-part Obama campaign. Utilizing the san serif Gotham font, his typeface creates a look that is both formal and friendly, the perfect hallmark of an ideal Presidential candidate. Paired together with its “O” partner, and the Obama brand created a dynamic duo. The symbol occupies the recognizable “hero” role, while the font literally reinforces the brand name. No piece of marketing collateral ever escapes a healthy dosing of logo treatment in a political campaign, but Team Obama has transitioned his sleek modernist look into an iconic symbol so seamlessly it borders on graceful.

But while Obama reaps the benefits of a smart yet burly campaign, the true muscle of campaign has remained his team on the ground. His hundreds of campaign offices, manned by thousands of staff and volunteers, with those precious Creative Directors, Marketing Coordinators and Graphic Designers form the design core of Team “O”. No matter their political leanings, critics have unanimously marveled at this team’s ability to present a clear and unified visual message across fifty states, across all levels of print and web campaigns. Everything from typeface selection to font spacing to Pantone colors has been almost militaristic in their precision and execution in this campaign. One can only imagine a frenzied graphic designer struggling to meet a midnight deadline, furiously thumbing through the Obama branding book pages looking for clarification for the font size on postcards. Yet it is the extra bit of scrutiny of the minute details by so many dedicated members of Obama’s marketing team that has earned the ground team their terrific reputation for creating a cohesive system.

This is not to say that Obama marketing is not without their faults. They have long been labeled pompous, even overzealous, by Republicans who question the lengths to which the Obama team goes to establish the candidate’s message. A creative take on the Presidential seal that was “Obama-fied” with his logo garnered negative attention in the press core for its presumptiveness. And recently the set design for his finale speech at the Democratic National Convention provoked a torrent of criticism from the right, labeling the column-adorned stage to something akin to Roman temple. With Obama struggling to shed his reputation as an elitist and a Christian with controversial religious ties, the critique aims straight at the heart of set design strategists.

For now, design has taken a backseat in the election to issues, agendas, personal history and experience. Both conventions seem well received by the public, and all recent polling indicates that both candidates are running neck and neck. But while V.P. picks and policy debates will no play a part on the election’s outcome, there is no doubt in the role that branding played in turning one candidate from unknown to the Democratic nominee for President in a year and a half.

Time will tell if his candidacy as a whole is strong enough for him to become President, but you can be sure that Obama walks the path to the White House that is partly paved by those tireless, energy-drink fueled graphic designers, making sure those building blocks of little Gotham logos are positioned just perfectly, just for him.

>Written by d/visible contributor Blaise Morita.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am and is filed under Graphic Arts, Culture, Branding, Advertising, Typography, Art & Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.