Kodos 2008!

November 18, 2007 8:35 PM

Reading Tea Leaves and Campaign Logos, a design critique of the 2008 presidential campaign logos. Via Daring Fireball
posted by nathan_teske (18 comments total)

A fun read, but the design criticizer isn't making many profound points. On the slide about Hillary Clinton's campaign logo it says, "Interesting font choice: The 'I' and the 'L's all look like the number 1." Well, there aren't many serif fonts where they don't.
posted by tepidmonkey at 8:43 PM on November 18, 2007

That "I" sure looks like a number 1--with a disembodied decimal point floating above it! I.e., Hillary Clinton is pro-math! Subtle, yet brilliant!
posted by goatdog at 9:02 PM on November 18, 2007

Hey, it's nice to see Ward Sutton again.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:06 PM on November 18, 2007

I hadn't noticed Rudy's secure red border. I'm kind of impressed by how unabashedly literal that design is.
posted by maryh at 9:11 PM on November 18, 2007

I don't get it. Is that a joke? An Onion-esque parody? It sure sounds like one. It would actually be interesting to her what a legitimate designer has to say -- one who is not aware of the people involved and not obviously projecting their biases into their critiques.
posted by RavinDave at 9:15 PM on November 18, 2007

I always thought Obama's logo was brilliant, especially the version with gradients. Most political logos are absurdly boring, but his wasn't.

I also thought Kerry/Edward's logo was more interesting then Bush/Cheney's

I mean I'm sorry but big fat sans-serif gets old after a while.
posted by delmoi at 10:25 PM on November 18, 2007

Lemme see ... the flag on Kerry/Edwards is bad "clipart", but on "Bush/Cheney" it forever links Bush to the flag? The "i" and the "ll's" in Hillary's look like number #1's; why can't I claim that the "ill" combination sends a subtle message that her campaign is not well? Oh, and funny how her use of the first name is deemed significant, but evidently unimportant in Rudy's case. And what are the odds that Fred Thompson -- constantly dinged for being lazy -- would have that same criticism applied to his logo? One suspects that if he were more popular, that instead of criticizing the "lazy" design, the critique would probably praise it as "no-nonsense" and "spartan".
posted by RavinDave at 11:03 PM on November 18, 2007

Appealing to base: White letters on blue background – Like Fox News.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 12:08 AM on November 19, 2007

Weirdly, this works out really well for Huckabee. Keep in mind that the Republican base probably doesn't read internet memes. To them, this is completely new material.
posted by BrianBoyko at 3:40 AM on November 19, 2007

Totally realistic ending, in that designers can analyze typography til the cows come home, but that people are just either going to think it's cool or not. (I like Obama's logo, too, but it reminds me of a Japanese flag, fwiw.)
posted by DenOfSizer at 4:09 AM on November 19, 2007

Good point, RavinDave. Another example is the comment that the designer of Obama's logo may be inexperienced. Ha ha.

If you ask me, Obama's logo is very web 2.0.
posted by malapropist at 5:52 AM on November 19, 2007

Couldn't we just as easily read Guiliani's logo as red (state) on the outside but blue (state) on the inside?
posted by Kronoss at 7:07 AM on November 19, 2007

What could be a better emblem of the ineffectualness of the intellectual left than an online-only New York Times op/ed about the presidential candidates. Only not about the candidates really, just their logos. I'm looking forward to some new articles about the fast food preferences of the candidates; does Hillary like McDonalds like her husband does?

And while I respect the comic style and all, it's really frustrating seeing crudely drawn pen renderings of the actual logos. Bleah.

I really like McCain's logo. It's new design, very clean, and with an overt message.
posted by Nelson at 8:40 AM on November 19, 2007

Well, if nothing else, I thought the gag about the Bush/Cheney logo only representing the top half of the flag and throwing away the bottom was pretty funny.
posted by ook at 10:01 AM on November 19, 2007

Well, if nothing else, I thought the gag about the Bush/Cheney logo only representing the top half of the flag and throwing away the bottom was pretty funny.

Yeah, and it was even funnier that he didn't point out that Hillary used EVEN LESS of the top portion of the flag. HAHA
posted by tadellin at 11:57 AM on November 19, 2007

Well... if there were any way in which that concept related to Hillary or her policies, then yeah, you'd have a point.
posted by ook at 2:01 PM on November 19, 2007

Metafilter: White letters on blue background – Like Fox News.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:50 PM on November 19, 2007

Whoa! The media boycott of Dennis Kucinich extends to comics?
posted by humannaire at 7:35 PM on November 19, 2007