Red, white and blah: Why are these all these 2020 campaign logos so boring?

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

Twenty-three contenders are marching toward the Democratic Party nomination, each boasting they alone can defeat President Trump in 2020, their campaign logos flashing like rival coats of arms across the front lawns and Instagram feeds of battlefield America.

The military analogy falls apart at this point, because the majority of those 23 campaign logos are as inspirational as bottled-water labels.

Is Jay Inslee running for president or trying to sell us Internet service circa 1995? Who is “Jo Biden”? How on Earth did Amy Klobuchar and Wayne Messam end up with typestyles so similar that their campaigns appear to be subsidiary brands of a company called “for America”?

Half the logos don’t look like anything at all — a soulless collage of red-white-and-blue typography and American flag parts secreted among the letters like a “Where’s Waldo?” puzzle. He’s streaking across the Y in “Yang 2020.” He’s hiding in John Hickenlooper’s mountain range!

“It’s an abomination. It’s just one cliche after another,” said Debbie Millman, who chairs the branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. “What we really need now is a new pussy hat — something so powerful in its simplicity people will be able to identify it all over the world. These are stars and stripes and waves and lines.”

[uawchild]

1. Because they all disrespect actual Graphic Design professionals?

Yeah, they all look like they had some intern design them.

You get what you pay for. They needed to hire better graphic artists.

[Funtatlaguy]

2. Funny you posted this.

Talking to a gay friend last night about Mayor Pete. He said that Pete and his logo are really boring. He said they should be more flashy and fabulous. I just rolled my eyes.

[cwydro]

11. Um...

Oh never mind.

[BannonsLiver]

19. This topic itself is eye roll inducing.

[Funtatlaguy]

20. He was pretty drunk and just kidding I think.

He never uses the word fabulous in everyday conversation.

[MineralMan]

3. I don't know. If you're designing something

that will become a pin-back button, you don't have tons of space to work with. All of those logos feature the candidate's name, which they desperately need to do. Really, as I look at them, the only one with any interesting graphic design is Biden's.

The rest are just the candidate's name, in terms of what the eye will see at a glance.

And here's the thing about Biden's button: What are those three red lines? I have to think about that for a second. Oh, that's the "E." JOE!

That button gets a double-take for some people.

They're all OK, it seems to me. They're just buttons.

[uawchild]

4. Biden's button gets points for trying

It's not the Obama genius level design, but at least it's trying.

The designs's that are just the first name, or the first name and a teensy last name, are not good for a candidate with low name recognition.

Harris's design gets points for being vibrant.

[MineralMan]

5. You have a good point on the first name thing.

Of the buttons in that photo, the one I like the least is the one that says "Wayne"

Wayne? Who's Wayne?

I'm betting that way less than 1% of even DUers know who Wayne is.

ANONYMOUS 2020!

[uawchild]

7. oh god...

I thought it was Wayne Hickenlooper. lol
That's what jumped into my mind when I saw that WAYNE button.

OMG

Sorry, John.

[MineralMan]

8. I had to Google it. Wayne Messam,

a Florida mayor.

If nobody knows who Wayne is, Wayne's not going to have a very successful campaign, I think.

[customerserviceguy]

6. I have only one observation

On Pete Buttigieg's logo, the "2" and the "0" on each side of "Pete" seem to be very separated. At first, I thought the logo was pushing "Pete 2.0"! Made me wonder what was the original version.

I guess I've spent too much time with software.

[MineralMan]

9. Clue: Windows Paint Is NOT a Graphic Design Program

And Comic Sans is not a real font to consider.

[crazytown]

10. not Tru

[cwydro]

12. I think Joe's and Kamela's are ok, but the rest are a little ho-hum.

The Wayne one is pathetic.

[Celerity]

13. Buttigieg's Design Toolkit is actually quite detailed and goes into great depth on all its facets

The official design toolkit site with far more detail:

https://design.peteforamerica.com/


a review by a branding design site

Water Under the Bridge

New Logo and Identity for Pete Buttigieg by Hyperakt Reviewed

https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_pete_buttigieg_by_hyperakt.php

Pete Buttigieg is the mayor of the city of South Bend, Indiana, and the latest Democrat to announce his candidacy for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. A graduate of Harvard University and Oxford University, he is a young 37-year-old, but has had experience working in the corporate world at McKinsey and Company, served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve for 12 years, and is currently in his second term since 2012 as mayor of South Bend, helping the city evolve from various years of struggles. Buttigieg, married since 2017, is also the first openly gay Democratic candidate and municipal executive in Indiana — for non U.S. folks, this is like being a gummy bear in a tray of mashed potatoes. Yesterday, Buttigieg formally announced his nomination and introduced his campaign logo and identity designed by Brooklyn, NY-based Hyperakt.

https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/pete_buttigieg_logo_meaning.mp4

The Jefferson Blvd Bridge is a concrete arch bridge built in 1906 over St. Joseph River in the heart of South Bend, Indiana. In 2015, in commemoration of the city’s 150th Anniversary, Mayor Pete led an effort to reimagine the bridge as a beacon of South Bend’s renaissance. He commissioned the South Bend River Lights, an interactive, public light sculpture that spectacularly lights up a small waterfall that stretches across the river. The bridge is a symbol of the innovative thinking Mayor Pete brings to leadership and the inspiration for our campaign’s logo.

Even though plenty has been written about the candidate logos so far, I have not written anything about them nor reviewed any of them, mostly because they have all been lackluster attempts at being the next Obama-logo-meets-Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-color-palette campaign identity of the year. Kamala Harris gets close to something but ultimately I keep seeing the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt titles and Beto O’Rourke’s logo is industrial-looking but perhaps to a fault. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing to see these candidates break the mold and put design front and center as part of their campaign but nothing so far has felt genuine or like an evident home run when it comes to campaign identities. Until now.

Buttigieg’s — well, Pete’s — logo is a strong, perfectly executed logo rooted in something meaningful and relevant to the candidate. The bridge may not be fully evident to everyone but it’s a very easy narrative to embed into the logo and once you see it, it makes the logo stronger. I like how the bridge bridges “20” and “20” — there is something nicely metaphorical about it for bringing two sides together. I normally cringe at gratuitous angle cuts in letters but the custom “E”s gain a lot of personality from the modification. The overall look of the logo is like something you would find rusted on an old piece of industrial equipment in someone’s barn in the Midwest. Yet slick enough to be printed on t-shirts and buttons and displayed on social media.

Rather than adopt the default red, white and blue color palette of past presidential candidates, our color palette is deeply rooted in Pete’s home town - South Bend, Indiana. Born and raised in South Bend, Mayor Pete has led the rust-belt, midwestern city through a period of renaissance since he took office. The 9 colors in our pallette are an ode to Pete’s hometown and his life there.

The color palette — which has been the most talked about element of campaign identities this year — is excellent, avoiding the traditional red-white-and-blue in favor of a set of colors that manage to look both warm and fuzzy but also industrial.

Hillary Clinton’s state campaigns got close to Obama’s customization for different constituencies but they weren’t as memorable. Pete’s state-supporting logos are pretty close in being as bad-ass as Obama’s. With little nods to some states — like Pennsylvania’s bell or Texas’ horns — each custom lettering job gives remarkable ownership and pride to supporters there and it makes for a hell of a group image.

[uawchild]

14. Thanks for the behind the scene's look!

That does show the effort put into the design.

I bet it will look great on yard signage.

Button's though... you don't have a lot of room to work with and Rule #1 is: Make the Candidate's name as large as possible.

Thanks again!

[Celerity]

15. yw

[uawchild]

16. nice!

[Celerity]

17. union-made (notice the symbol)

https://teamster.org/divisions/graphics-communications/gccibt-benefits

[uawchild]

18. Stop, just stop.... the tears of joy are streaming down my face!

Great job!

I am going to go and try to buy a bunch of those buttons, add more flash to my jacket! lol

Thanks for sharing all these details.

[mtnsnake]

21. I hope EW changes from using her last name to using her first name instead

Otherwise there are too many voters who might wonder "Warren who?"

[TwilightZone]

22. I'm pretty sure most people know who she is.

Her name recognition is about 90% nationally and will only increase as the campaign continues.

[mtnsnake]

23. I sure hope so.

90% name recognition nationally is awesome. That makes me feel better. Thanks!