Typography for Obama

I was just perusing the Artists for Obama section of barackobama.com and saw this lovely poster by Jonathan Hoefler of Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Simple, bold and beautiful; I adore this poster. Robert Indiana has also adapted his iconic LOVE sculpture in support of Obama's message of HOPE:
Unfortunately, I don't have $2500 to spend on the Indiana print. I'll just have to wait for President Obama to usher in a new era of prosperity and fiscal responsibility.

Show Your Support with Tea

An anonymous reader turned me on to this gorgeous Vik Muniz-esque portrait of Obama in organic African Red Bush Rooibos tea. I love tea and the idea of drinking for Change. There is even a Extra-Mavericky version for all you crazy McCain supporters out there. Although his portrait is not nearly as appealing; I detect a note of partisanship.

Debate No. 3 and the Project Runway Connection

Last night fashion and politics collided (okay, maybe only in my mind) with two momentous finales: the third and final presidential debate and the season (perhaps series) finale of Project Runway 5. Okay, so I was kind of rooting for Korto's subtly Africanesque collection with it's gorgeous colours and restrained use of over-sized beads. That green halter dress was a stunner and I don't think the garments were particularly overworked (once she wisely, unlike Kenley, ditched the crazy wedding dress). But, ultimately, Leanne's cool (literally with all those diaphanous blues) intellectual approach won out. It was hard not to draw a connection between the judges' response to Leanne's collection and those bizarre squiggly lines of biofeedback from the supposedly undecided focus groups watching debate no. 3. As a recessional malaise sweeps over the country, content appears to be reigning supreme over the cult of personality. Obama's calm, cool, collected, look directly into the camera and try to stay on topic approach seemed much more presidential, as the talking heads like to say, than McCain's bizarre tangents, random accusations, twitching, eye rolling, evident discomfort and apparent seething rage. Tim Gunn and the American people have spoken: the time has come for quiet thoughtfulness, intelligent solutions, environmental awareness and the ascendancy of the slightly nerdy. Hooray.

Logobama

A super fun way to show your Obama support (or just have fun with a logo): customize the logo using Logobama o8. Above is Lily, my tiny little, adorable Obama supporter.

It's fun, it's free, and you don't even need to have Photoshop skills.

Baking for Barack

After extensive research, newspaper reading, debate watching, liberal media consumption, occasional Fox News viewing, soul searching and logo analysis, we, at the Juiciful creative laboratory, have decided to officially endorse Barack Obama for president. In honor of the Obama campaign's superior graphics, we encourage our readers to move beyond the bumper sticker/yard sign and explore more creative means to express the support of your candidate. Witness the glorious oatmeal cake—a revelation of moist deliciousness—reconfigured as the Obama logo. A yummy treat to enjoy during tonight's debate.

The Posters: Hope or Nope. You Decide.

I just loved Shepard Fairey’s iconic silk-screened poster of Obama. Great simplified portrait, fantastic use of red, white and blue, and lovely clean typography. And you've gotta love OBEY and their "propaganda engineering." As the original HOPE print is no longer available, we'll just have to settle for the NOPE version. It's clearly derivative and the portrait is not nearly as flattering. The inclusion of that wretched Optima Bold McCain logo doesn't help either. But, I suppose it will just have to do. Oh yeah, it's also available on a t-shirt.

Paris Schools McCain

I never thought that Paris Hilton would be capable of making a presidential candidate look like a a complete buffoon, but she, and her people, have done just that. Good on you Paris for creating your own response ad to McCain's ridiculous, misleading and mean-spirited Obama as celebrity attack ad. While I realize that presidential candidates aren't in the business of creating their own ads (thank God), they do "approve" ads created for them, and I think the McCain team's use of this ad speaks to their desperation and complete lack of focus on true intellectual discourse. And now, Paris Hilton, of all people, has shown just how ludicrous political campaigns can get:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Juiciful does not endorse Paris Hilton for president.

Candidates Spin the Sushi

I noticed this hilarious take on the candidates by Clyde Haberman in Friday's NY Times. This tongue-in-cheek article arrived on the heals of Wednesday's High Mercury Levels are Found in Tuna Sushi (at the likes of Nobu Next Door, no less) and Thursday's Warnings Don't Deter Lovers of Sushi.

All this talk of mercury and tuna got me to thinking: why don't the candidates ever mention their plans for tackling the debacle (impending crisis?) that is our food supply. "Safe" growth hormones used liberally in dairy production. Eggs from factory farmed chickens that bear no flavour or colour resemblence to actual, well, eggs. E. coli outbreaks in bagged spinach and, of course, ground beef.

Last summer, I had the good fortune to work on a design project in Jamaica through the Farmer to Farmer program. While in Jamaica, I collaborated with Dr. Deacue Fields, an Ag Business Marketing specialist from Auburn University. In addition to being a real southern gentleman (the man raises quarter horses: how cool is that?) and all around nice guy, he was a wealth of information on farming, community sponsored agriculture programs, etc. He told me about a study at Auburn that analyzed ground beef. Evidently, the average packet of supermarket ground beef contains DNA from over 40 cows. Imagine the horrific process that could result in such a product. Deacue told me that he has not purchased ground beef from the supermarket since learning about the findings of this study. In turn, I have not purchased a single pound of ground beef since Deacue told me of his boycott of mass produced ground beef. Every time I hear of another E. coli beef scare, I'm not the least bit surprised.

Of course, beef is just the tip of the iceberg. I know our economy is a mess, our healthcare system is corrupt, and the war in Iraq is a quagmire, but what about that basic stuff that keeps us alive: food. I wish the candidates really would address the sushi crisis and the meat crisis and the dairy crisis and the pesticides/produce crisis. After all, how patriotic is a juicy grilled burger on the 4th of July? Too bad this is now an impossibility, as it it unsafe to eat ground beef cooked any less than well done, and we all know that that burger ain't gonna be juicy.

The Candidates: By Design

Is anyone else out there feeling completely overwhelmed by this year's presidential election? I simply can't keep up with the various platforms, especially given the candidates' seeming collective aversion to addressing actual issues. In these situations, I can do one of two things: either curl up in the fetal position and take a news fast, or seek out an environment over which I have some control. In this case, that environment is the visual. So, here is my take on just a few of the candidates, based on the design of their websites and identities:



Let's start with Huckabee. There are so many different typefaces and type styles on this page that it creates an overall sense of clutter and visual pollution. And are those letterforms in his logo bastardized? Especially offensive is the design of the Help Mike Today box, in terms of typography, use of color and copy editing. Are you serious with "Become a Ranger"?


Moving onto McCain. Hmm, liberal use of military iconography; I can dig on that, since I'm an Air Force brat and unrepentant fan of Top Gun (ah, the halcyon days before we discovered that Tom Cruise is a babbling lunatic). I don't hate the use of Optima in his logo, but I'm not sure that I would have gone with the bold version. The black and white flag behind the logo is a bit moody and subtle; I appreciate the somewhat toned down color palette. But, again, type styles: way too many. The italic on the right sidebar is the worst.



Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with Romney. For God's sake: his photo is horizontally stretched on the home page! The eagle/flag hybrid seems like an over-the-top addition to his logotype. You're patriotic: we get it. Really, would a non-patriot actually run for president? Isn't that a given. Although, compared to McCain's and Huckabee's sites, the designer was positively restrained when it came to typefaces and type styles.



Just to prove I'm not all about Republican-bashing: here's Edwards's all about bold typefaces site. And what is it about that red: it's not quite right. A bit too muddy. I might be able to handle it were it not for the use of the green accent colour. That green is just terrible, especially when juxtaposed against the red. Why, why the green swoosh on the blue star? Why a third color? Aren't red and blue enough?



If I were Hillary (have you noticed that everyone calls her Hillary instead of Clinton: I'm sure this is due to a desire to avoid confusion with Bubba and not related to sexism in any way), I'd want The Eurythmics's Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves to be my theme song. Damn: Aretha Franklin AND Annie Lennox. I'm playing it right now and I feel strong and empowered, like I could be comin' out of the kitchen to be leader of the free world. Let me tell you, Hillary, sisters don't select logos with skinny, lame, waving flags. Three stars? I know it's iconographic, but it just looks weird. However, like Romney's site, at least there aren't a bazillion different typefaces. But, Hillblazers has got to go.



Then there's Obama. I don't know what kind of president he'd make, but this man knows how to hire a designer (or, at least his people do). The typography is, dare I say it: sophisticated and actually pretty. I'm not gradation crazy, but the soft blue gradients are used quite well throughout the site. The sunrise over the stripes of the flag: okay, not earth-shattering, but the logo is not offensive in any way. Check out the Make a Difference sidebar. I love these different iterations of the logo. If you click on States, you'll see that each state has its own logotype that incorporates the rising sun logo within the name of the state. I cannot tell a lie: this website makes me happy and gives me hope for the future of our country (from a design standpoint).

Just to be clear, Juiciful does not endorse Barack Obama for president, but we do endorse the designer of his identity and website. Nice work.