Friday, 10 October 2008
The iconic tagline.
So I was wondering: what is that sans-serif font that Obama is using for all of his “Change” slogans? This is the sort of question that keeps me up at night. Thankfully, Font Whore and a number of other typenerd blogs had the answer.
Turns out it’s Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ Gotham, inspired by early 20th-century architectural lettering from New York City (the lettering at Port Authority is cited as “the cornerstone” of the Gotham font project). It’s no accident that Gotham looks a lot like an architect’s rather geometric handwriting: the inspiration for the font dates back to before the era of the graphic designer, when it fell to architects and engineers to design the façades and signage for the buildings they created. Because of this, the letterforms they used are largely divorced from the typesetting tradition. Further, unlike most of the other major sans-serif faces, Gotham can be seen as truly American in origin.1
Hoefler & Frere-Jones actually created the font at GQ’s behest. GQ apparently wanted something classy and elegant yet straightforward and comfortable. Here’s H&FJ’s blurb on Gotham’s “voice”: “Friendly without being folksy, confident without being aloof, Gotham’s many moods run from hip to nostalgic to brash to eloquent.” And the font is indeed familiar and surprisingly friendly while being bold and distinctive, especially in the realm of candidate branding: Obama’s “Change” slogans really stood out from the other candidates’ designs early in the race, who all used serifed (or, in McCain’s case, “soft-serifed”2) faces, with the sole exception, I believe, of John Edwards, who actually used a thicker version of the same font.
Obama's logo remixed in an LJ icon
But Obama’s real design distinction lies not in the font itself but in the way the font is used: namely, as part of a very well-organized marketing campaign. To say nothing of his policies, Obama, more than any other candidate before, is a complete and coherent brand. Every single sign, every button, every banner, and every image on his website3 is set in the same colors and perfectly-spaced fonts and bears the same logo; and consider: while candidates have long had distinctive designs to set themselves apart from each other, how many have had real logos? There was the Bush W/flag from 2004, but that’s the only one that comes to mind, and it pales in comparison to the O, which is practically dripping with symbolism.
Obama clearly has a brilliant and well-organized marketing team behind him, and his brand is more coherent and well-designed than those of many major corporations. I’m positive that lots of politicians will pick up on this tactic, because for better or for worse, one of the changes Obama is championing is a move towards a candidate-as-product method of campaigning. Because hey—nowadays there’s no loyalty like brand loyalty.
Have a good weekend!
1Or truly well-educated-intellectual-élite-New-Yorker-snobismo American, if you prefer.
2McCain’s signature typeface is interesting for two reasons: first, it is the same face that is used on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Obvious Allusion is Obvious), and second, as H&FJ point out, it is a font which “has settled into being the font of choice for the hygiene aisle”. (Font Whore mentions that it’s a favorite of Estée Lauder.)
Your Reply...