Thought & Theory

Elections are branding exercises.

Candidates want to you to feel a specific way about them from the smallest casual interaction with a logo to the full on displays of campaign rallies. They’re shaping every little experience you have with them almost to an obsessive point.

Design is meant to communicate the true virtues of anything in a simple, visually captivating manner. While all of the candidates have at least a decent visual presence, no one has truly understood what design could do like Obama.

At first I really thought his message of “change” was super generic. What the hell does change really mean? But what I realized after time is that Obama and his campaign truly understand the benefits of great design and communication. He’s distilled what the American people want down to one word and one message. We all want a change of leadership. We all realize that this nation (yes, this nation. you guys elected Bush twice remember.) made a lot of mistakes these past 8 years. He understands that people are rarely inspired by platform discussions and will rarely research candidates beyond what their spouse, drinking buddy or spin-crazy TV show has told them. The vast majority of voters will vote based on impressions and not logic.

And that’s when design plays the biggest role. You have to make sure that each and every single eligible voter understands what you represent in one word or simple fragment of an idea. He’s the Apple of the candidates. Its one simple brand concept beautifully executed.

Full Disclosure: I’m actually for Ron Paul but I’ll be voting for Obama this year if he wins the Democratic nod today. Luckily his platform is actually pretty impressive and while I don’t agree with everything he runs on, I do agree with most of the important issues.

Article Reviewing Candidate’s Design Presence in the Times Union