Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/15/democratic-presidential-hopefu.html
…
4 Likes
They also hired designers (cited and linked thoroughly) to create hand-lettered “team Pete” logos for every state in the union, plus Puerto Rico, as well as establish a Mayor Pete color guide and downloadable Pete for President logos… including a BOOT EDGE EDGE logo.
The folks at Hyperakt, who are handling his branding work, are killing it compared to everyone else on the docket so far.
11 Likes
I’m thinking Buttigieg’s definitely a man to watch for in the future. Probably not this upcoming election, but still. 
5 Likes
(at 1:53)
2 Likes
Well, Beto is borrowing from Whataburger ketchup packets, which is an equally strong strategy, IMHO.
10 Likes
I am not so sure about that. He would not be the first “black swan” type candidate to arise. He has history that could be questioned, certainly, but I suspect all the dem candidates do. We shall see how this plays out, but certainly not ready to religate him to maybe later status.
4 Likes
It might be shallow, but a candidate having great taste is super appealing. I don’t know that I could defend it, but for me it’s true.
9 Likes
That page was driving me insane as the art was in rows of 7 and 50 + 1 is 0 mod 3, but the last row had one logo in it. Turns out there is one for Washington DC as well.
I’m not sure that these logos really have much political value, but they sure look great. And branding as “Pete” feels like it really works (which may just be an indication it plays to my demographic).
9 Likes
It’s smart, local-centric imaging – everything his team’s doing to establish a brand for him has been fantastic so far. From having a unique logo to consistently labeling him Mayor Pete (he comes with his own nickname!) to actively engaging both his husband and his dogs on social media shows that they seriously understand how to connect with people in 2019.
9 Likes
Nothing says American Industry like British and Kiwi typefaces.
1 Like
It’s the melting pot in action!
2 Likes
If only he could get those designers to create some spiffy “Medicare for all” flyers or “end subsidizing big petrol” buttons or any other truly progressive campaign paraphernalia I might think this was more than a shallow and vain marketing campaign with expensive designers.
12 Likes
All your font are belong to us!
2 Likes
OK, as a graphic design nerd this is the most excited I’ve been about campaign collateral since the Shepard Fairey “Hope” poster.
12 Likes
I’m really hoping that works in his favor. With so much backlash against the Democratic Party as being detached from Real©™ people’s concerns, someone with a more folksy-yet-modern profile could do well…
3 Likes
Good design doesn’t have to be especially expensive. Any political campaign that has enough money to pay for pollsters and strategists and TV commercials and posters and tour buses and campaign swag should have more than enough money to hire some decent graphic designers and typographers, it’s just that most don’t bother to do so.
9 Likes
I think even if it is especially expensive, it will be a pretty inconsequential amount compared to how much it costs to run a presidential campaign. Getting new logos every week might add up to something, but Pete can basically use these through the primaries and right into the general.
3 Likes
Absolutely—Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign cost between $565 Million and $1.2 Billion (depending on who is running the numbers) and she still ended up using a campaign logo that looked like something a first-semester design student could have come up with in about 10 minutes.
That’s more than Marvel spent on Infinity War and Endgame put together, and I somehow doubt that anyone in accounting was worried about how much of that went toward designing the movie’s logotype.
6 Likes
The full system that was designed for the logo – created by legendary designer Michael Beirut at Pentagram, for free, interestingly – was pretty well executed. The idea was to create a geometric logo simple enough that it was easily replicated or drawn by anyone, and instantly recognizable at a distance. What they didn’t do is make it very friendly or accessible-looking – it has a corporate-branding quality.
Besides Obama, whose team reinvented the way a campaign’s typography, posters, and online imagery can define a candidate, the best branding I’ve seen was what was done for George W Bush’s 2004 campaign, where his team just used W as his icon in dozens of styles for different uses. It was simple and brilliant.
A lot of design groups do political work like this gratis, because the exposure is massive, and it can be counted as an in-kind donation.
5 Likes
Well, the list of colors on the color guide certainly reads like a William Carlos Williams poem about a blue-collar-pandering non-boat-rocking centrist…
Claey’s cream
River Blue
Heartland Yellow
Calm Blue
Blue Sky
Rust Belt
Buddy Gold
Truman Brown
I hope they avoid the Truman-on-Cream combo, it ends up looking like a Maybelline ad
2 Likes
