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[personal profile] yesthattom
Someone said, “Well, why shouldn’t he have revolutionary looking graphics--graphics that make him look like grassroots, like an outsider? Things drawn by hand, things that look forceful and avant-garde.” But I think he’s using design in a way to make him look as normal, as comfortable, as inevitable as a brand can look in American life. Those are really deliberate, interesting choices. Whether or not a sans serif font like Gotham looks more “American” than a Swiss font like Helvetica, that’s in our imaginations to a certain degree. I think it’s much more incontrovertible that he’s actually using the seamlessness of this branding to convey a candidacy that’s not a dangerous, revolutionary, risk-everything proposition--but as something that is well-managed and has everything under control.
As a font freak, I’m very impressed by his font selections.

When people asked him about his lack of executive experience, he would always say (before the campaign) that if you want to see how well he’d run the Whitehouse, just watch how well he runs his campaign. I agree. So far he’s choosing better advisors that Hillary and is more Disciplined than McCain.

More about his “branding” and fonts from the Newsweek Blog.

Addendum.

Knowing a little about management

Date: 2008-04-06 02:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mrfantasy.livejournal.com
I'll say one of the hallmarks of a good manager is being able to surround yourself with competent people and motivate them. It seems Obama is winning that competition at this point. It especially is in stark contrast to our current president, who seems to be intentionally hiring the least competent people for certain government positions, to make the point that government is ineffective. Of course Karl Rove is an evil genius, so Bush knows about the value of good people. The difference is that Obama will use his good people for running the country and not just his own self-aggrandizement.

Re: Knowing a little about management

Date: 2008-04-06 03:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] awfief.livejournal.com
And you know what, you can even see this in the different on the front page of their websites. Hillary has a picture of her head, taken from below, with the slogan "help make history" -- in other words, "you should vote for me because if I'm president it will be history" -- "do something for me!"

Barack has "Change we can believe in" and a somewhat head-on, somewhat above picture of his family, including his younger daughter with her arms around his neck. To me the "we" says it all.

Hillary gives us a command -- HELP MAKE HISTORY. OR ELSE. It's an imperative sentence. Barack says "I am the change you've been looking for," and understands that children will hang all over you -- this isn't him standing with his arm around his wife, with the 2 daughters up in front standing. Barack says to us "I will lead you the way you are, not the way I want you to be."

(Republicans attack welfare, unemployment and social services as being there for people to take advantage of, as if they had only been responsible adults they wouldn't need it).

Date: 2008-04-06 08:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bruhinb.livejournal.com
Why are we comparing Gotham and Helvetica? Unless you are a font freak, they're practically identical fonts.

Gotham
Helvetica
Edited Date: 2008-04-06 08:09 pm (UTC)

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