• 08Oct
    More Obama Drama: Logo Wars

    As many of you saw on the presidential debate last night, there are some clear difference between the candidates. Economics, foreign policy, and energy aside, there are new battles differentiating the presidential hopefuls, their marketing strategies.

    Here is the original Obama logo. I have never touched on the design itself, but I have to admit I like it. Red, white and blue, a little cliché, but I can understand why. The design is incredibly simple but maintains a certain appealing feel. With the movement formed stripes and multiple shading gradients, the overall image gives off a dynamic feel.

    Even though the design is great, anything you endorse can and will be used against you in the world of politics. With such as simple design containing such a large amount of white space, Obama has left himself open to many anti-Obama enthusiasts. These amateur creatives who have taken this opportunity to insult the presidential hopeful.

    The “O” shape of the logo offers an open space in the middle of the design that provides for images to be inserted. This was embraced by http://www.logobama.com which offers the public the ability to customize the candidate’s brand. While the intentions of this website may have been to raise awareness and capital for Obama, they have led to some “interesting” designs.

    While I don’t necessarily agree with the views of the following Obama logos, I do support amateur designers expressing themselves. Kudos to logobama.com for offering the logo community such a fun and useful tool. Looks like the Joe Six Packs have demonstrated their cleverness again, with these designs. I guess they have the same amount of design experience, as Obama and Palin have foreign policy experience.

    In this age of mash ups, memes, and remixes and viral marketing we have come a far way the simple lapel pin. Anyone and everyone can alter a candidates image. What effect does this have ultimately on design and politics. Now with this technology, amateurs have the ability to turn one candidates marketing into their own. Take the McCain logo below for example.

    In addition to the Obama circular logo, there have been several other renditions. Of anti-Obama logos and slogans. Here are a couple more controversial examples, including Rosie the Riveter adding her two cents.

    Now if only the average voter spent the same time reading about the issues, as they do remixing and mashing up logos, there might be a better informed electorate. Do you think substance is sacrificed for novelty? Would we be better off without all of these transparent attempts to make a Presidential election “fun” “interesting” and more palatable to the youth vote?

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3 users responded in " More Obama Drama: Logo Wars "
    • pnrkumar Says:
      January 17th, 2009 at 6:32 am

      Does this really maters???
      I’m sure this logo might have designed by some people near to Obama and not Obama him self designed it.

      Getting inspirations from any Logo is not logo theft.

      Obama Logo looks much better than Pepsi one.

    • mykzelzt Says:
      February 5th, 2009 at 12:56 pm

      Hey pnrkumar,

      You needs to learn how to spell and use good grammars or else you might look like you don’ts knows anythings. durrrr?

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