New Jersey's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Flickr

A political brand is the same as a corporate brand. Both try to carve out unique identities. They seek to evoke positive emotions and consumer confidence at the mention of their names or at the appearance of their insignia. A familiar logo is the ultimate encapsulation of brand loyalty.

Political campaigns spend hours with focus groups crafting their ideal icons. This messaging becomes part of the larger world of media literacy, which can be a productive way to frame discussions with students each November. It can be difficult to teach civics in non-presidential election years. This constraint, however, actually presents an opportunity, since it allows teachers to focus on the critical role played by state and local governments within the federalist system.

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.

Interestingly, the only two governorships before the voters in 2013 are both in deeply purple states. This offers an additional opening for students to explore the changing nature of the American electorate. The race in Virginia is expected to be a scorched-earth nail-biter. The race in New Jersey, however, is currently tilting entirely in favor of reigning governor Chris Christie. The current polls show him leading 60 percent to 28 percent. 

Christie's logo evokes this sense of strength and inevitability in the prominent all-caps lettering and the no-nonsense moniker of “Governor.” He is not running “for” governor, nor does he mention any party affiliation. His design reinforces his incumbent status and the de facto nature of his assured return to the capital. Here, Christie succeeds in the “Governor” tag, while Ken Cuccinelli’s similar but over-serifed and presumptuous attempt fails in Virginia. Christie incorporates both dark slate blue and fire brick red texts to unite the two sides of the electorate, and the trio of stars seems a fitting klaxon to underscore his name and tee up his office. 

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.

As a whole, however, Christie’s placard is something of a mess. Sideways text never succeeds well, since it is foreign to the expected flow of readable text. The minute first name of “Chris” tucked vertically in the left corner is jarring to the eye and unnecessary in a state where the governor has universal name recognition. It also exaggerates the chunky nature of the “Christie” Impact font. The generic slogan at the bottom, “Strong Leadership Now,” is equally as redundant. With an approval rating of 70 percent, Christie doesn’t need to remind voters of his “strength,” especially in an oddly kerned justified blur. In fact, the catchphrase undermines his prior term, by suggesting that “now” the state needs a strong leader (as opposed to the past four years). We like the banner at the top of his website much better, where he eschews the puzzle-pieces and simply features his name and title. The color is a contemporary Tufts blue, and the font is like an elegant, interesting Caronta. The campaign team should have used this modish layout for all of its marketing pieces.

Source: Barbara Buono for Governor

Christie’s opponent, Barbara Buono, faces an uphill battle in name recognition, but her logo is a good first start. As a state senator and former member of the General Assembly, Buono has a solid political resume, but she can’t compete with Christie’s successful stewardship during Hurricane Sandy. In mocking up her poster, Buono’s team made several key design choices. Similar to Terry McAuliffe’s squad in Virginia, they opted for the increasingly popular pistachio color, which until recently was almost unheard of in red-white-and-blue politicking. The green juxtaposition with the charcoal gray background gives a popping quality to the bold serif Frusta of her all-caps name. 

The subtitle in fine white Kohinoor Latin prominently mentions her political party, which many candidates opt to obscure in order to reach independent voters. Buono is making a key calculation that with her low voter identification, she should appeal to the state’s Democrats, who make up the majority and who twice elected President Barack Obama. While Christie did not include a logo, Buono’s trademark is the state itself, textured and encircled by a ring of stars. While simple and not terribly original, it’s a solid choice for a politician trying to amplify the authority of her candidacy. Even though she’ll likely lose at the polls in November, Buono wins in the modern appeal of her brand.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

Virginia's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Wikimedia, Flickr

The 2012 presidential election was historic for many reasons, not least of which for the quixotic logos that candidates on both sides used to market themselves to the American public. Luckily, this summer offers more opportunities to examine political brands. These carefully crafted icons present avenues to study how various campaigns plan to pitch themselves to voters and define themselves through visual messaging. In May, for example, a judicial candidate in Dallas was flagged for hijacking the Brooklyn Nets logo for his own t-shirt design.

This post is part of our ongoing series in "Designing A Candidacy." We talk a lot with our students about logos and branding as components of media literacy. They become engaged during civics comparisons of television commercials and candidate bumper stickers, and they enjoy assigning adjectives to the relative strengths and weaknesses of political insignia. Even though 2013 is an off-year election, we want the future voters in our classrooms to remember that citizenship matters more than once every four years.

Only two governorships, Virginia and New Jersey, are up for election in November. The state of Virginia limits its governor to a non-consecutive four-year term, meaning current Republican governor Bob McDonnell cannot succeed himself. The principle candidates vying to replace him are Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Democratic businessman Terry McAuliffe. Cuccinelli is pitching himself as a jobs-focused successor to the popular (but currently under ethics investigations) incumbent. Cuccinelli is best known, though, for his attempt to sue the University of Virginia over its research into global warming and for his steadfast opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. McAuliffe, as the former head of GreenTech Automotive, is also trumpeting his job-creating credentials. He is most remembered, however, as the former chairman of both Bill and Hillary Clinton's respective presidential campaigns and as the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Source: Ken Cuccinelli For Governor,

Cuccinelli's logo is traditional and stately, with classic blue, centered, horizontal lettering in a heavy serif on a clean background. The Williamsburgian design features the state prominently in a deep red shadow to emphasize the candidate's Republican ties. The single all-caps "Governor" stands out prominently with its two side spears, avoiding any suggestion of a contest "for" governor. The colonial layout evokes patriotic tones similar to Ron Paul's blueprint. It also allows for flexibility to customize the mockup for later niche posters. The absence of any style distinction, though, makes Cuccinelli's flavorless emblem fairly forgettable. And the lack of any slogan or motto means voters won't glean a specific message from the marketing.

Source: Terry McAuliffe For Governor, Daily Kos

McAuliffe's scheme marks a stark contrast to Cuccinelli's. The stylized white, serif-free letters slant upward in a modern pitch on a bold blue canvas. Most striking is the unexpected and clearly intentional green banner. The bright spearmint shade, with no mention of the Democratic Party and no overt logo, seems to position McAuliffe as a nonpartisan choice for an environmentally friendly future. The bold slogan also unequivocally accentuates his business background, rather than his hyper-political past. It's unclear whether voters will be swayed by this attempt at rebranding, and the choice of "Andes Mint" green is somewhat jarring to the eye.

Current polls, by the way, show a tie between the two contestants. As reference points, the winning logos from the recent Virginia candidacies of 2012 Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, 2009 Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, and 2008 Democratic Senator Mark Warner are featured below.

Source: Wikipedia, Republican Express, Kaine For Virginia

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

Election Day - Our Favorite Voting Videos

After months of campaigning and strategizing, the 2012 presidential election has finally arrived. We have been fascinated by the candidates' messaging all through the primary and general election seasons. We've also enjoyed exploring different tools in the classroom to allow students to exercise their voices, before they are old enough to exercise their votes. If you'd like to look at some resources and lessons about "Designing A Candidate," check out these prior posts. For election day itself, here are some of our favorite videos to share with students. These lively, informative clips can make sure everyone is ready to understand the eventual electoral results.

Vote For Somebody! It's Your Civic Duty (from Democracy Prep)

 

Explain It To Me: Running For President (from CNN Video)

 

Does Your Vote Count? The Electoral College Explained (from TED-Ed)

 

Electoral College 101 (from NYTimes OpDocs)

 

Electing A US President In Plain English (from Common Craft)

 

Isarithmic History Of The Two-Party Vote (from David B. Sparks)

Branding A President - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Obama For America;
Romney For President

The mantra in bare-knuckle politics is to define your opponent before he can define himself. This branding touchstone has taken on a special significance in the simmering months of the 2012 presidential campaign. Of course, the opposite is crucial, too -- define yourself before your adversary cripples you with negative advertising. We spent this past winter and spring with our students exploring the nuances of candidate messaging. Our kids had a field day rating the various logos and slogans (here are their verdicts, and some of our posts).

Convention Logos

The newest logo juxtaposition centers on the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. These conventions can be decisive in delivering enduring speeches and rallying the faithful. In fact, then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama became a national figure and heir-apparent in delivering the keynote address at John Kerry’s 2004 nomination. His poignant words immediately registered among the annals of oratory. Now, in 2012, the parties have crafted logos to epitomize their conventions and messages.

Source: PRNewswire

The Republican National Convention takes place August 27-30, in Tampa Bay, Florida. Released before the end of the primary process, the GOP insignia admittedly was designed without a determined candidate. The Democrats, on the other hand, had the luxury of incumbency and predictability. In the Republican icon, the trumpeting elephant is a potent, active depiction of the mascot. The colors are vivid and clear, and the patriotic impulse is telegraphed. Ultimately, however, the logo is a twitchy puzzle somewhere between a postage stamp and poster.

The heavy serif on the font, the cumbersome all-caps typeface, and the wide kerning between letters all yield a fuzzy, justified headline. The flag emblem is appropriate, but the downward slope leads the eye off the page, rather than looping back to a central focus. Worse still, the flag is obviously and instinctively wrong. It has too few stripes for the area depicted, and the unorthodox three stars in the blue field offer no clear significance. Finally, the convention planners seemed to feel that the host city deserved unusual prominence. “Tampa Bay” dominates the emblem, but the sideways contortion and the bold “Tampa” but thin “Bay” are disjointing to the eye. Florida is a crucial swing state, so the undue city prominence may be warranted, but the thick waves serve no purpose other than drawing focus and evoking strips of bacon. We would expect this seal rarely to see the light of day during prime time convention broadcasts.

Source: RIDemocrats

The Democratic National Convention picks up days later, from September 3-6, in Charlotte, North Carolina. The assembly's logo seeks to trigger an immediate visual connection with the overall Obama brand, mimicking the Carolina-blue oval and the patriotic rising-sun colors. This kindred icon echoes everything about the Obama campaign’s buoyant messaging. The subtle alterations embrace the crowd-sourcing, grassroots designs of the Democratic strategy. The red horizon of celebratory citizens, gathered together in a joyous hand-clasp, all summon the energy of a lively convention. In particular, the insignia places the motivation and impetus on the people themselves as the profiled drivers of continued change. The downside is that it rests all the attention on the single candidate, rather than the political party or its platform. It also pays little homage to the host city, which could backfire in a crucial state that Obama narrowly won four years ago.

Branding The Other Candidate

Source: Obama For America

President Obama’s campaign has worked hard to brand Governor Mitt Romney as a country club candidate. His team has hammered away at Romney's pioneering outsourcing at Bain Capital and his millions of dollars in shadowy off-shore accounts. The goal in this messaging is to amp up the working-class base and to appeal to “undecideds” who fall outside of exclusive beaches and dressage stables. The end result will be a litmus test of negative/positive advertising and a call-to-arms for America's changing census population.

Source: Romney For President

The Romney camp, for its part, is striving to brand Obama as "out of touch" and "anti-business." They’ve seized on stagnating economic indicators as leverage for vague but forceful podium points about failed stimuli and deadly regulations. Recently, the marketers have clipped an Obama phrase that seemingly undercuts small business owners. The “you didn’t build that” slogan quickly became the Romney attack-du-jour, and the Democratic hand-wringing suggests that the barrage is working.

Campaign Designs

A recent article at The Weeklings elucidates key take-aways about the subconscious communication of visual messaging. The feature, for example, freshly points out that John McCain’s 2008 campaign chose Optima, the same font as the Vietnam Memorial. We’ve extolled before the clarion of Obama’s 2008 Gotham design choice. It’s significant, therefore, that during this 2012 reelection gambit, Obama's team requested an updated version of its iconic lettering from its favorite Hoeffler & Frere-Jones shop. This time, his banner features a squared serif, in equal weighting between President and Vice-President. The Weeklings article also points out that Romney’s squad, not accidentally, plucked Mercury and Whitney typefaces created by the exact same Hoeffler & Frere-Jones design firm. If you are unfamiliar with their work, here is a terrific PBS Off Book video highlighting the insights of H&F-J.

Source: Hot Cards

Even the labeling of routine bus tours seems to matter. The Caucus blog at The New York Times offered a recreational retrospective of past candidate bus trips through the American heartland. The best moniker continues to be McCain’s “Straight Talk Express.” The worst wordsmithing falls to 2008 GOP candidate Fred Thompson’s tour, dubbed “The Clear Conservative Choice: Hands Down!”

The campaign gift shops also deserve artistic focus as reinforcers of brands. The Obama team organized a "Runway To Win" t-shirt design contest on its official web site. The three winners now can see their creations for sale online.  This popular appeal and non-hierarchical marketing parallels the overall strategy of the Democratic outreach. The Romney site also offers t-shirts with twists on the standard insignia. The governor's team has fashioned a special line of "vintage" shirts in an attempt to bridge the older Republican demographic with the retro-loving younger voters.

Source: Obama For America

Source: Romney For President

For additional reading, we recommend:

• Obama's New Fonts
• New Obama Typeface: Revolution Gothic

Buddy Roemer - Designing A Candidacy

Our students are obsessed with Buddy Roemer. They ask about him ad nauseum, scrutinizing his polling prospects and monitoring his debate inclusion. Before he withdrew from the official GOP race, they joined the small chorus of voices urging for his prime-time podium. It was encouraging to see middle-schoolers checking Gallup tracking numbers. And it was somewhat gratifying that they eagerly took to electoral politics, even if transferred onto a quixotic candidacy. Every Monday, they checked our classroom bulletin board, worried that Roemer’s laminated profile would be stapled with an “OUT” sticker, like Cain, Bachmann, Perry, McCotter, and Johnson before him.

Source: Buddy Roemer for President

Even as Roemer now seeks a third-party bid, our students appreciate him for his underdog status. They identify with his outcast role. Roemer also has name appeal. Who couldn’t love their pal “Buddy” (like the star of Elf)? Roemer’s character glasses and grandfather hair all transmit a harmless allure. There is, too, the inside joke of repeated, self-fulfilling fascination. If they ask about Roemer enough, they can grin at the invented cult of personality.

Former governor and Louisiana representative Buddy Roemer himself pursued a nearly invisible campaign for the presidency. Aside from MSNBC, which adopted Roemer as its poster-child for GOP iniquity, Roemer rated scarce appearances on cable news shows that plastered other Republican candidates across their airways. Some legitimate beef could be made for Roemer’s unfair exclusion from debates, which welcomed fellow campaigners who similarly missed the networks’ standards. In all, however, it was primarily Roemer’s policies that kept him on the sidelines.

Our students, upon reading Roemer’s issue stances, are frequently appalled. When viewing his campaign logo, however, their fascination returns tenfold. Roemer’s logo without a doubt stands out from this year’s GOP pack. His unique scheme aims for a marketing space as quirky as his own personal branding.

Roemer’s carnival design appears more whimsical than serious. His diagram smacks of a popcorn box, with comedic sans serif spacing and pop art sentimentality. His slogan plays off a chummy rapport with the “Buddy” name, and the overall effect reinforces a childish camaraderie. The joviality, though, prevents any serious presidential consideration. Roemer’s lack of name recognition makes the reliance on his first name perplexing rather than clever. He certainly doesn’t enjoy the breezy confidence of other first-namers like Newt, Hillary, and Ike.

Source: Stock Logos

Our students note that Roemer’s logo captures all of the necessary elements – patriotic colors, American flag imagery, a clear slogan, and a unique presentation. It’s a wonder, then, that his campaign channeled its media awareness into a capricious banner. Roemer’s team does offer another, completely different logo for the 2012 election. This depiction encounters its own problems, not least of which are the retro styling, the orangish hues, the jarring stars, and the ill-defined gray lettering. Mostly, it seems like a discarded logo from a 1970s NBA expansion team. And when combined, the two logos are brand-muddying polar opposites.

Roemer’s chances of making hay in 2012 are zero. His chances of earning supporters among seventh-graders and Fox News acolytes, however, are quite high. He has a rabid Twitter following, and even with messaging miscues, Roemer could emerge from this election as a principled campaigner and a new talking head in conservative outlets.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

Designing A Candidacy - Students Rate The Logos

We've been taking a look at the 2012 presidential candidate logos since this summer. We've been trying to imagine how a slogan and a design might relay a candidate's brand and influence voters. Recently, we asked the same thing of our middle school students. We showed them the banner of each significant candidate still in the race, and we asked the students to judge the logo's appeal for themselves.

Source: ASIDE

We began the exercise in the same manner we approach political cartoons and photographs, using the four steps of graphicacy to understand an image. Specifically we asked:

1. What visual elements do you see? How is the image constructed?
2. What adjectives would you use to describe the logo or banner?
3. Based on his/her logo, the candidate seems __________.
4. Based on his/her logo, would you be more or less likely to vote for the candidate? (rating on a scale from -3 to +3)

What did we learn? Well, first, by an overwhelming margin, most students rated most banners a "0." Most designs had no impact on their likeliness to support a candidate. While this conclusion made for lukewarm data results, it hinted at larger electoral takeaways. A logo is traditionally a space-filler, something to wave or personalize a podium. It requires a special concept to turn a graphic into a game-changer. Poor designs can do damage, however, which explains why most campaigns are playing it safe for 2012.

Source: ASIDE

Secondly, Barack Obama and Newt Gingrich scored the highest among our middle schoolers. Both received positive marks for clear, positive, and modern imaging. Many students were not familiar with Obama's rising sun logo from 2008, and they, therefore, viewed his recent incarnation on its own merits.

Thirdly, President Obama had the most variability, with the fewest neutral ratings and the most extremely positive or negative opinions. Mitt Romney and Gingrich also enjoyed a range of scores and descriptions.

Finally, we learned what we already knew: middle schoolers are not easily impressed. Most of the images elicited a few half-hearted "eh"s. The worst sin was to be "boring," applied most frequently to Romney's logo. In fact, 2012 dropouts Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain rated higher among our students in their unexpected and intriguing designs. The biggest fan favorite was former Louisiana governor and current GOP outcast Buddy Roemer. We'll highlight his quirky carnival banner in an upcoming post.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

Rick Santorum - Designing A Candidacy

During logo deliberations, a fledgling campaign must weigh its desired message against its candidate’s name recognition. “Newt,” for example, can get away with a single first name, like “Hillary” or “Ike,” because of strong voter identification with the individual’s brand. Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, and Thaddeus McCotter, however, were forced to lay a “get-to-know-me” groundwork in order to introduce themselves as presidential aspirants. In their cases, the messaging proved unsuccessful.

Source: Rick Santorum for President

Rick Santorum falls into this unfamiliar camp. Even with his two terms as an outspokenly conservative senator, he is little known to non-Pennsylvanians who weren’t watching Meet The Press in 2005. Santorum did build a name within the Republican caucus thanks to his fervent family focus. He rose to the position of conference chairman as the party’s megaphone for traditional values. In 2006, however, Santorum lost reelection to Bob Casey, Jr., by 18 points, the largest margin of victory ever by a Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania history. Santorum then worked as a low-key lawyer, columnist, think-tanker, and Fox News personality before announcing his run for president on June 6, 2011.

Given Santorum’s consistent policy positions but soft name recognition, we would expect his campaign logo to proclaim loudly his family principles. Instead, Santorum’s banner is a jumble of hits and misses. The all-caps lettering is clear but unremarkable in its insubstantial, barely modified Garamond font. The dueling red and blue colors of the first and last names fight against each other, pulling focus rather than offering a unified theme. The red hue, in addition, is a curious epicene tone between crimson and rose, officially known as “folly” (we’re not making that up).

The best part of Santorum’s insignia is the circle of stars and soaring eagle in the "O" of his last name. The bird is ascendant, evoking patriotic notes. Still, Santorum’s name is not common enough to be divided by a symbol. It almost appears as though his name is “Rick Sant Rum.”

Liberal activists have made Santorum a punching bag over his controversial statements. But his articulation of neo-conservative principles has won him praise during recent debate performances. Santorum's dedicated stops in each of Iowa’s 99 counties have also earned kudos for retail politicking. His slogan, therefore, should be a point of pride for the Santorum brand. Something akin to “Faith, Family, and Freedom,” which is the title of his current tour, would have established a resonant motto to reinforce his moral policies. Instead, the Santorum campaign chose “The Courage to Fight for America.” Bland and unexceptional, this formula could apply to any leader in any contest. It fails to connect to Santorum’s competitive advantage among faith-based, right-leaning voters. Even with his strong debate skills, we fear Santorum may never ride the polling surge his fellow second-tier candidates have fleetingly enjoyed.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

Herman Cain - Designing A Candidacy

Conservative radio host and businessman Herman Cain recently harvested a bale of positive press after leaping into first place in October's NBC / WSJ Republican primary poll. This lead comes after Cain's sure-spoken debate performances and his convincing win in Florida's Presidency 5 GOP straw poll. These symbolic victories have registered nil in actual primary votes, but they've filled weeks of political news about supporter passion, campaign effectiveness, and media fairness. The mafia-pizza impresario is now receiving renewed appraisals by many in the Tea Party. Even though few in the professional cable class think that Cain will win the nomination, he could springboard into the Vice-Presidential slot or the rabble-rousing Sunday roundtables of Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Palin.

Source: Friends of Herman Cain, Inc.

As a candidate, Cain's brand features a white background, with his full name delineated in generously spaced, UCLA blue, all-caps, serifed letters. The characters are clear and easy to read, befitting a lesser-known aspirant to the highest office. The rest of Cain's emblem, however, is as quirky as his policies, testifying to his outsider status but possibly jarring to mainstream voters.

Beneath Cain's name is an italicized gray afterthought, "President 2012," which neither emphasizes an urgent "vote for me" message nor sheds light on Cain's character or qualifications. The mild, washed-out font echoes the popular criticisms of Cain, specifically his lack of policy heft and executive leadership.

Most striking about Cain's banner is the carefully rendered (and artistically constructed) torch that dominates the logo. The ribboned flame bifurcates both Cain's name and office, suggesting perhaps that his inner fire burns strong. The choice of a torch as Cain's symbol triggers much design debate, helping Cain's publicity even as it inspires criticism.

The torch invites echoes of Lady Liberty. It suggests Manifest Destiny and Columbia's light of freedom. Curiously, though, the torch is a rarely used icon in American politics. Maybe that's because a flame held aloft seems oddly Masonic, or Druidic, evoking incantations and fringe ceremonies. Or maybe it conjures images of torch-wielding villagers, coming to take us away. Additionally, many Americans think only of the Olympics when they see a torch symbol. For whatever reason, the unfamiliarity of the logo is as much a liability as a benefit to Cain's candidacy.

Since none of its connotations invokes a "presidential" feel, Cain's logo reinforces his prior fringe space. He may assail frontrunners with his singular ideas (such as his increasingly-publicized 999 plan), yet he can't help but occupy a less-than-mainstream podium among current Republican runners. If he keeps up his momentum over Mitt Romney, however, this popular conception could easily change.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

A Font Of Knowledge

Source:
Wikimedia
Commons

When writing a standard five-paragraph essay or creating a visual aid, our students have a vast array of textual fonts within their stylistic tool kits. We typically encounter two polar frustrations in viewing our students' work: they either ignore font size and placement altogether, or they go font-crazy. In designing Prezis or PowerPoint shows, they sometimes slap words haphazardly on the screen in squinting colors and heights, wherever their cursor happens to hover at a given moment. At other times, they inflate font sizes to disguise overly brief papers, or they flaunt kaleidoscopes of calligraphies in distracting, artistic spasms.

It's hard to overestimate the effect of a well-chosen font. The right typeface can convey immediate meaning, in its contemporary sleekness or its Old World script. The positioning of words amid other visual elements can unite a graphic and can help communicate an overall message. Sometimes, we give our students strict parameters, such as the timeless "double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman" requirement for basic research papers. At other times, we guide them in moderation of hues and serifs, in order to be visually interesting without being visually disturbing. One of the reasons we like Prezi so much is that its templates limit font options. This helps reinforce the notion of restraint in design schemes. We also, though, find ourselves occasionally encouraging students to experiment with fonts, in order not to fall back on the lazy default or the predictable choice.

Source: Simon Garfield

A lively investigation of print fonts and their connotations is Simon Garfield's recent book, Just My Type. Garfield surveys the gamut of familiar and obscure font choices, and he lends particular focus to the modern cult of Helvetica and the priggish disdain of Comic Sans. He identifies fonts in popular movie banners and praises iconic kernings and drop caps. We've mentioned before the signature effect of President Obama's Gotham font, and we continue to be fascinated by other politicians' letterings. Garfield's book makes a worthy case for paying attention to the quirks and impacts of textual fonts. It's certainly a case we'll keep reinforcing in the classroom.

Rick Perry - Designing A Candidacy

Three-term Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the Republican race for president comparatively late, given Mitt Romney's seeming campaign-from-birth (or at least since leaving the Massachusetts' governorship in January 2007). As other early announcements were made, many heavy hitters in the Republican party seemed to long for a more formidable player to take on President Barack Obama. Perry leapt into the ring to fill a perceived void of experience and moxy. Thanks to Perry's trademark swagger and right-wing appeal, boosters and foes alike both know him as charging full-steam ahead toward any roadblock appearing in his way.

Source: RickPerry.org

Perry's campaign logo features many of these same hallmarks. Its lettering is confident and obvious, but the overall design seems an afterthought, as though his rushed communications team needed an image to plaster on bumper stickers and, therefore, ran with its first proposed mock-up. The logo's lettering is clear, with Perry's last name featured in puffy, all-caps Times New Roman. The colors are dark red, white, and blue, and a luminous glow gives the oval shape and its emerging stars a shadowed, 3D effect. The purpose of the design, however, is ambiguous. The word "president" appears beneath Perry's moniker in a discordant, oddly kerned, sans-serif font. There is no overt slogan to impart a clear message, and the general impression is fairly bland.

Perry's design is inoffensive, but it does not strive for any added value. It fills a space on a podium, but it likely would not resonate with any undecided voter. Much like the hasty entry of Perry himself into the race, his logo seems eclipsed by the silhouette of his own outsized bluster. If he continues his stand at the top of the polls, we would not be surprised to see Perry's team tweak its current image and enhance its visual significance with additional mottos, symbols, or niche references. At the very least, Perry's impulsive brand reinforces his key differentiation from the overly workshopped, corporate stiffness of opponent Mitt Romney.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

Newt Gingrich - Designing A Candidacy

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has so far faced a rocky rollout in the formative months of his presidential campaign. After staff defections and bourgeois revelations, Gingrich has retooled his team to concentrate on a lean, local approach to the Republican nomination.

Source: Newt 2012

His logo, however, suggests that Gingrich has been leading the nation for years. His banner implies that Gingrich is so familiar to the voter that the visual focus can rest on the seminal year of 2012. In height and font, the date is emphasized equally as his name, underpinned by a traditional star and red swoop. Gingrich uses only his first name – seemingly resonant, unpretentious, and well-acquainted. His unique moniker over the decades has indeed become part of the daily conversation, with a back-of-the-hand comfort like “Hillary” and “Rudy” in 2008. Gingrich is the only candidate so far in 2012 featuring solely his or her first name.

Gingrich’s overall effect broadcasts a regal, high-on-the-hill, red-wagon sensibility. The design is suitably classic and nationalistic. Gingrich’s website also is tucked subtly in the corner, prominent enough yet also quirky enough to get us thinking: Why dot.org? Why just “Newt”? It turns out other similar websites were already claimed, and some urls link to for-profit ventures selling Gingrich’s DVDs and books. The casual browser, therefore, should be careful when searching for his site.

Check out our other posts about design and education in the 2012 election.

Ron Paul - Designing A Candidacy

Congressman Ron Paul has been the loyal Libertarian warrior for many years, serving 12 terms in his Texas district and now waging his third rabblerousing campaign for the presidency. In fact, he announced on July 12 that he would not be seeking reelection to the House in order to focus on his presidential goals.

Source: Ron Paul Presidential Campaign Committee

Perhaps this explains why his 2012 brand conveys such a sense of urgency. In his prominently placed slogan, he emphasizes the all-caps “now,” suggesting that the nation must immediately return to some past, lost glory. Paul’s team brings a modernity of shadow graphics to his emblem, evoking the classicism of the eagle and the United States seal. Indeed, his rendering is close to the official presidential seal, which is likely intentional and evokes feelings of strength and natural successorship.

The overall effect leans strongly on American values. Paul’s name is emblazoned in equally strident capital letters. A singular tuft of red appears on the “A,” dynamic and uplifting, like stars shooting over a mountain. It is unclear, however, why such a klaxon bestrides the “A,” and the emphasis is unusual in breaking the symmetry of the other formal, seriffed letters. Paul’s banner also is noteworthy in not using the word “president” anywhere. This deliberate omission suggests a familiarity with his candidacy, that he has run before, that he is a known quantity. His logo reinforces that his views are principled and directly linked to his name and persona, not to the job he seeks. In all, Paul’s design for the upcoming primaries puts him much more in the “establishment” camp than in his prior grassroots efforts. This legitimacy and this effective branding could make him a force in the Republican discourse.

By the way, here is a fun, gimmicky site to replace the text of the presidential seal with your own name or your students’ slogans.

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Tim Pawlenty - Designing A Candidacy

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been preparing for his presidential run for several years. We assume, therefore, that his message has been carefully sculpted in the months of planning. His name on his official campaign banner features subtleties in fill that generate eye-interest within each Britannia blue letter. The gradation, however, carries no clear significance. The haziness opts for design appeal in lieu of overt messaging, which could be a curious mistake given the amount of time likely dedicated to assembling Pawlenty’s insignia.

Source: Pawlenty for President

The Republican candidates have been divided over whether in their logos to include their full names or just their last names. Pawlenty opts for the latter, which is atypical among lesser-known politicians. He accentuates a capital “P” and “Y,” unusually highlighting the end letter to his name. The scheme creates a visual symmetry, but it simultaneously lacks any parallel significance. The two letters, for example, are not identical, and they do not hint at any larger importance through the bracketing effect of the larger letters.

A lot of design space is dedicated to the intentionally incomplete, shabby-chic rendering of the flag and stars beneath Pawlenty’s last name. The fluidity suggests movement toward a goal, toward an as-yet-incomplete America. The Crayola rubbing quality and irregularly sized stars imply a childlike quality, resonant to soccer moms and suggestive of a down-home, unaffected nature. The casual depiction, however, seems immature for a potential leader of the free world. The drawing reminds us of an inverted New England Patriots’ football logo or Revolution soccer logo. This lineage could be a clever mental link to winning sports franchises. It could also confuse the viewer by redirecting one’s visual-memory toward other well-established brands in the media zeitgeist.

In all, there is little in Pawlenty’s logo that screams “strength.” Instead, it gestures toward unthreatening evocations of familiarity and straightforwardness.

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Michele Bachmann - Designing A Candidacy

The marketing of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign is built around her own persona. Her headshot is featured prominently in her website banner and in every facet of her media offerings, just as her name is festooned across her midnight blue campaign bus.

Source: Bachmann For President

Overall, Bachmann offers one of the best presentations in this year’s Republican crop. Her pieces of messaging all connect to the same leitmotif, to an unmistakable values-centered image of yesteryear. Her distinctive seal features the classic Americana emblem of corner stars with a bordered last name. While seemingly unremarkable, the logo’s thin lettering etched vividly on a white background serves to elevate Bachmann’s status in subtle ways. The elements create a convincing dressing of establishment for a three-term Representative. The logo conjures heartland memories and suggests permanence for a politician relatively new to the national scene. Her design looks like it should be painted on the side of a barn, sentimentally appealing to Iowa caucus goers. Her crest is at once nostalgic and reminiscent of lettering on a quadrangle’s gazebo, above a marching band’s scalloped bunting.

The “H” in her name is emphasized, in a nice, uplifting banner wave, but the branding oddly singles out a middle letter rather than a marquee initial. Still, Jon Huntsman would have been better served to mimic Bachmann’s optimistic and distinctive “H,” rather than his disjointed Tribeca block lettering.

Bachmann succeeds where others falter, because her campaign understands the message it seeks to convey and, therefore, uses its visual components to reinforce these subtle communiqués. A design should be inseparable from a candidate’s persona. In this regard, Bachmann is ahead of the pack.

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Jon Huntsman - Designing A Candidacy

Former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman has by far and away the most innovative web design among those seeking the 2012 Republican nomination. His site is immediately engaging and inviting, unlike the other campaigns which all seem to rely on the same formulaic Internet template. Most candidates are using their sites as de facto components, but Huntsman (like Obama in 2008) seems to be aiming for a competitive advantage in his web presence.

Source: Jon Huntsman For President

Huntsman appears to branding the “H” much like President Obama established a quick identity with the letter “O” (or like President Bush assumed an unintended partnership with the “W”). Huntsman’s website features the “Daily HBlog,” sells “H Goods,” and urges visitors to “Become Gen. H.” He also seems intentionally to be offering separate graphic messages for separate audiences. For example, his official bumper sticker (above) strikes a drastically different tone from his website banner (below).

Source: Jon Huntsman For President

The web logo is the more “designerly” emblem, invoking a similar ocean concept of President Obama’s design but adding an ethereal wave image. Notable is the bold, strikingly disjointed letter “H,” with the floating middle bar. The lettering strives for a modern aesthetic, even as its blocked, corporate sans serif seems more appropriately stitched on a hotel pillow.

The red coding on his bumper sticker conjures “red state” imagery, while the starkness of the austere design signals a practical, no-nonsense approach. Huntsman seems uneager to brand himself as a “Republican” or a “Democrat” and instead wants to carve a new space in political messaging. His graphics are noteworthy in their unorthodox messaging – they feature no readily apparently American flag or patriotic iconography, and they introduce unfamiliar motifs that could resonate as original or could alienate him from the rank-and-file Republicans. He does mention his desired office, “President,” but not as a campaigning “for” it. He also declines to share a slogan, leaving his overall theme up to the voters to decode.

Finally, Jon Huntsman faces a potential problem in competing with the business brand of his father’s billion-dollar Huntsman Corporation, which has already claimed many of the most obvious name-related urls and patriotic designs. In fact, a Google image search yields a variety of results in logos – few of which relate to the son’s presidential campaign.

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Mitt Romney - Designing A Candidacy

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney received a lot of attention when his official 2012 logo was released. The striped “R” was compared unflatteringly to both the Aquafresh toothpaste and the Carnival Cruise Line logos.

Source: Romney For President

Still, on its own, the updated design from Romney's 2008 campaign features bold, decisive colors and represents a waving or undulating concept to establish him as an appropriately forward-looking patriot. The choices seem calculated to check off a requisite number of boxes: red, white, and blue? (✓); flag imagery? (✓); strong rendering of name and optimism? (✓).

The initial “R,” however, is distracting as it draws focus from the overall effect. The stripes create a blurred effect, and the downward sloping “R” undercuts the stability of the letter. The viewer’s eye wanders to the left and wants to see a firmer base. Absent a solid stance, the impression feels washed out and insubstantial.

The rest of the logo is corporate – clean, crisp, and appealingly backlit on a Prussian blue background, with firm serifs on the all-caps name and slogan. We’re not sure why the “E” and “Y” are connected in the typography, while the other letters are demarcated. The muddling of spacing may hint at a muddled message.

Some candidates choose not to feature a slogan, but the Romney campaign etches its uplifting message prominently beneath the primary name. It has been noted that Romney is repeating verbatim Senator John Kerry’s (losing) campaign slogan from 2004.

On its website, Romney’s campaign features several permutations of his core image, including a curiously dull gray bumper sticker offer for a limited number of donors.

Ultimately, the “R” is memorable, due to its boldness. The rest of the image smacks of quotidian focus-group blandness, which may remind voters of Romney’s strength but also his weakness – his business savvy but also his ambiguous principles.

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