It’s amazing how designers have to treat one and the same theme in so many variations. Some of the schemes are repeating themselves, but as a general – there’s a big variety that might be useful for every logo and corporate designer. As we can see – there are certain trends last years – like the usage of curves, reminding of the USA flag. They start using this curves better and better. Angles and length are different, much more attractive last years. Also almost the complete lack of photos – in compare of the campaigns during the 60′s. Pay extra attention to the different variations of blue. Some are more warm, some – more cold and strict. The usage of an extra color except the red and the blue is very rare and it’s primary yellow, green, black and orange. Once in 1972, Muskie uses as a background color dark purple. In some of the cases bellow “brown” appears, referring to the colored americans, I believe. The “Obama” designs are definite one level higher. In 1988 there are 10 banners / logos that bet on the white color. In 2008 they are barely 3. As we can see the patterns, I predict that on the next elections white will be on the stage again.
Most popular symbols are : flag, star, eagle and the number of the year of the elections. Though there are brave usages of cowboy hat, street sign and heart-shaped key. And , yes, let’s don’t forget the signature of Mr. Hatch in year 2000. May be more signatures will appear in future, who knows, as long as creative logos and shapes like those of Mr. Obama.
The source of all these logos is 4president.us . Visit the website to see more political design materials.
To read more, check out the following links:
www.logoblog.org/wordpress/us-political-campaign-logos/
www.37signals.com/svn/posts/522-presidential-candidate-logos-politics-as-usual
www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-dreary-art-of-presidential-elections
www.kolbrenerusa.com/blog/index.php/2007/08/08/campaign-logos-2008
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40 Responses
Great and pretty interesting collection. But one is definetly missing: Gravel 2008!
or at least
Thanks.
i would like to take the poll
Too bad Ron Paul didn’t run for president in ’08.
I’ll be glad to read your opinion on the design issue of the materials above :) Do you agree with the comments, do you have something to add, etc.
The president Nixon one from 1972 is one of my favorites. I love the simplicity of it with the nice type and the period is brilliant. It make such a strong statement so simply.
dh,
Don’t be an ass. Nobody up there under 2008 has run for president yet. Why are you picking on Paul?
As are many of the others on display. Quayle 2000, Muskie 72, John Glenn 84 and many more.
I personally like this years Tom Vilsacks and all the ’72/’76 logos even though Andersons ’76 looks like a logo of a rental car company somehow.
Interestingly it seems that a greyer shade of blue is now generally believed to look more serious.
Strange that a commenter would dare suggest that the “Revolution” with the backwards “evol” is a Gravel brand; since it was obviously created and popularized by the grassroots Ron Paul supporters.
Also, the Ron Paul sign displayed above is one of the oldest and least used versions; by the time the campaign took off the “Ron Paul” was written in normal case rather than small-caps, and the “for President 2008″ was written in all-caps in a plainer font. The leading/kerning/margins were improved, too.
Hey, here is a logo for someone that is already running for president in ’08. Notice how different it is? Not the same ole redwhite&blue.
http://mckinney2008.com/logo.png
Well, to me they look almost all similar. Almost the same colors: red, blue and white. Almost the same type family. Almost the same style. I live in Brazil and here we have a rich experience. There are lots of logos, colors and styles. There are bad ones. Really bad ones, but also great ones, made by very competent and creative designers. Pity we don´t have such a collection like that!
@JV
All the Green Party Logos were green&white (see Nader 2000, Carter ’76/’80)
Oh, Cyn has officially announced to be Green Party Presidential candidate in 2008?
The “Mike Gravel Revolution” banner is plagarism.
Gravel fans can come up with something of their own, I know it.
Regardless of who the Revolution logo belongs to, what I see when I look at it, is LOVE spelled backwards. Sort of reminds me of the Ford Nova campaign in Mexico where No va is “doesn’t go.”
What I find interesting is how names are included in these logos. Does Clinton and Guiliani’s use of first name only suggest overfamiliarity? Is Tommy Thompson emphasizing his first name to differentiate himself from that other Thompson? And is Joe Lieberman emphasizing his first name to suggest that he’s, well, a working Joe? Or am I just overanalyzing these things?
I agree with you Rita :)
We should pay extra attention to the way the names are written.
Thats pretty cool. It was nice to see the progression of good design over the years. It’s also funny to see people running in 04 and 08 that ran in 94. 15th times the charm!
Since Obama’s designs are the most commented one for 2008 – you may be interested in this t-shirt design
for his campaign:
I find this whole set interesting. It’s really great to see these all grouped together like this. Three of my loves in one place politics, history, and design.
A couple of random thoughts:
2008 seems to be the year of the serif font. (with a couple of exceptions).
Kennedy seems to be the last to have used his own image on a sticker. A practice that seemed very common in the 50′s and 60′s.
Green seems like an odd color choice to me for some reason. Obviously Nader used it literally in 2000, running on the Green ticket (dumb use of the color IMO). But apparently Carter used it successfully in 1976. Also ORANGE????!?!
Ones that jump out at me as particularly good design are:
President Nixon. (interesting choice of phrasing and punctuation. looks very disciplined and confident, obviously Dole liked it)
Reagan Bush 84
Clinton Gore (nice flag motif)
Bush Cheney 04
Obama (all the campaign graphics have been top notch)
Particularly bad ones (the WTF were you thinking department)
FORD DOLE (this looks too corporate)
Gary Hart 1988 (amateurish)
Alan Keyes (why the literation of Keyes?? Makes no sense to me)
Tom V Vilsack (looks like a super hero logo, and not in a good way)
Bill -
I’m pretty sure we must add “Sharpton 2004″ to those WTF Were you Thinking.
Yeahhh. That one goes right up with Hart’s as “amateurish.” I’d even say it passes Hart’s.
Yes. Agreed on the Sharpton. Also I stand corrected on Kennedy being the last to use his image, I missed Thompson before for some reason.
You missed my favorite: AU H20 1964 (Goldwater, for those who fell asleep in chemistry like me). Quite possibly the most confusing slogan ever.
Kind of amazing that three of the 2008 candidates managed to find designers that don’t know the difference between an open single quote and an apostrophe. Thanks Microsoft Word!
English is not my native language and I should admit I haven’t noticed this curious fact :)
‘ ” `
10x Ryan
Let’s get back to the days when political signs looked like those from 1960-1978. I think those are great. These days they are boring and not even worth a glance. Let’s get creative again!
I must say, the McCain sticker has a very unpatriotic blue.
Common sense and education are highly compatible; in fact, neither is worth much without the other.DonaldG.SmithDonald G. Smith
Our greatest battles are that with our own minds.JamesonFrankJameson Frank
Hillary Clinton made a few choices that just. 1) She used her first name. 2) She used the tagline “For President” (which is particularly popular with candidates that loose see John Kerry).
Alec
Director
DesignBay
Those obama shirts are retarded. What do you think everyone would say if McCain made something like that.
WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE SHIRTS????!!!!!
ask this guy :)
http://www.behance.net/Gallery/T-shirts–Captain-Obama/93107
thanks!
wow very nice collection
great collection of signs there are so many i can't believe it
GO OBAMA
Is totally absurd that a site that refers to the artwork of someone else claims any kind of ownership or wants you to remove them, these web 2.0 days are strange indeed
Well it seems absurd, but I've removed them since its true that somebody collect all the materials and vectorized them. So I've tried to at this point to respect their / him wish. :)
sorry for the inconvenience.
Great collection. I didn't expect this much of election banners and logos from here..Thanks for sharing this..If you can why don't try to update the sweet incidents that happened in the U.S history..It make the blog popular..
gravel screening machines
nice post
Just to see logos, thank you !
Hello,
I juste want to see logos, so i leave a comment, thank you !