Yes, We Kern

Of the things that Obama is doing effectively, this may be the most subtle but it is certainly not insignificant. Chalk it up to the content of his alternate character.* Take it away, “leading graphic designer and critic Michael Bieruit”:

He’s the first candidate, actually, who’s had a coherent, top-to-bottom, 360-degree system at work. Whereas, I think it’s more more common for politicians to have a bumper-sticker symbol that they just stick on everything and hope that that will carry the day.

The thing that sort of flabbergasts me as a professional graphic designer is that, somewhere along the way, they decided that all their graphics would basically be done in the same typeface, which is this typeface called Gotham. [See "Change We Can Believe In" sign, above] If you look at one of his rallies, every single non-handmade sign is in that font. Every single one of them. And they’re all perfectly spaced and perfectly arranged. Trust me. I’ve done graphics for events –and I know what it takes to have rally after rally without someone saying, “Oh, we ran out of signs, let’s do a batch in Arial.” It just doesn’t seem to happen. There’s an absolute level of control that I have trouble achieving with my corporate clients.

Then if you go to the Web site, it’s all reflected there too–all the same elements showing up in this clean, smooth, elegant way. It all ties together really, really beautifully as a system.

This link brought to you by the blogger Digby, who ventures:

Marketing rules our culture, politics included. I don’t know if it will work to win over enough of the public to get “market share” — advertisers and marketers never do until they put it to the test. But the Democrats are finally playing in the same arena, and combined with a charismatic candidate, this could go a long way.

It can be easy to overstate such things, and of course, if you ask a typographer about type, she’ll tell you plenty about the delicate psychological effects of European families, elegant descenders and swash capitals. It’s more art than science, perhaps, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t operative.

*That’s a typography joke for all you typographiles.

Explore posts in the same categories: 2008 Election, Color Commentary, Le Random, Political Discourse