OBAMA’S VIZ MAKES GRAPHIC ARTISTS SWOON

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but since my first blog post (ever) was only last week I’ve yet to write about a field very near and dear to my heart: graphic design.

I was reading a news release from the Democratic National Convention Committee about the person Obama just installed to act as his go-between this summer, Matthew Nugen. In and of itself not all that newsworthy I suppose; certainly not as interesting as Obama’s decision to ban federal lobbyist and PAC money from going to the DNC — demonstrating party leadership consistent with his campaign’s principles.

But what caught my attention was the new DNCC logo. It’s pretty good, and not just as far as political ads go.

If you want to get a sense of how campaign artwork has evolved over the years, check out this awesome collection of U.S. presidential election logos, from 1960 to the present. It’s really a very cool repository — and it reminds you how many people ran for president that never even registered as a blip on the national radar.

Now, I have no idea whether one of the things Obama’s team insisted on — since he became the party’s standard bearer — was stepping up the quality of the Democratic Party’s design work, but this would not be hard to imagine, at all.

Obama has destroyed both Clinton and McCain in the area of campaign visuals. The latter two never had a chance in the begining and are only now (McCain anyway) trying to jack Obama’s syle.

Let’s take a look at some of the campaign 08 design work — with even more visuals, including some political art — after the jump.

HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN SIGN AND WEBSITE

JOHN MCCAIN CAMPAIGN SIGN AND WEBSITE

BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN SIGN AND WEBSITE

Part of the difference here in the look of each campaign is generational. But part of it is also the vision of the Obama team to recognize, from the beginning, that arresting visuals have a long and storied history of helping to motivate and rally people to your cause. They invested early in designers to give his campaign a look that would set it far apart from all the rest.

And with a name like “Barack Obama,” he needed to make it so that different could at the same time be attractive, appealing. His signature “O” logo, with the sun seeming to rise over a rolling red and white stripped heartland is easily the most elegant politcal design ever made.

I mean, take a look at this flyer the Obama team put out for a run-of-the-mill, standard campaign rally in Boston. It’s stunning — and tell me you wouldn’t be more inclined to go to this event after seeing the ad.

Earlier when I wrote about the hip hop song Nas just released about the 2008 election, I said that I don’t take much interest when Obama’s campaign spills over from the political universe into celebrity/popular culture. Well, I have one exception to that statement, and that’s when free expressions of support come in the form of graphic artwork.

I’ve loved the many, many instances where supporters have put a creative imprint to the Obama campaign. A few examples of which are below.

[UPDATE: A reader put me on to a smart blog that has a lot of compelling Obama images. The good, the bad and the ugly..]

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Tags: Art, Barack Obama, campaign flyers, campaign websites, Democratic National Convention Committee, DNCC, graphic art, graphic design, Hillary Clinton, John McCain