Recently in Politics Category

The 2016 Presidential Election in 20 Magazine Covers

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In The Mood For Votin'

As the N.Y. Times aptly put it yesterday, after almost a "Year Of Sitting On The Edge of Our Seats" I thought I'd post a bit of a tension release on the eve of the big day. On the jump are a few selections from the Society of Illustrators exhibition recently curated by Edel Rodriguez. The show included some of the best illustration published over this fiery political year by artists Tom Bachtell, Steve Brodner, Philip Burke, Joe Ciardiello, Thomas Fluharty, Drew Friedman, Robert Grossman, Victor Juhasz, Tim O'Brien, Roberto Parada, Hanoch Piven, Felix Sockwell and Brian Stauffer. Enjoy.

In addition, if you're like me and have been completely embarrassed by the archaic design of your polling place the past elections, take a picture of it: The N.Y. Times and Design Observer are promoting a project asking voters to document their polling experiences across the country, information is here and here.

The above thumbnail is a selection from AIGA's Get Out the Vote 2008, on view until the end of the week in NYC.
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The Best $60 You'll Spend Today

Our friend and frequent collaborator, Jonathan Hoefler (who drew our sparkly new SPD logo), over at H&FJ, creators of many of the fine typefaces in use on this very site, just let us know that his "Artists for Obama" limited edition poster is available over at the campaign's site.

Jonathan had this to say about his effort:
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Sarah Palin [Hearts] Magazines!

This just in from CBS News:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Video after the jump.
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Optima vs. Gotham: Campaign Typeface Smackdown '08

There has been much interweb chatter (some of it here! -- Ed.) of not only Hoefler & Frere-Jones's Gotham as the official font of the Obama campaign, but also of a graphic discipline and consistency throughout this election season that companies like Apple and Nike would be proud of. It also didn't hurt to have Shepard Fairey's Obama poster turn into the must-have wall art of the politically aware.
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Consistency Was the Key

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with The Economist's Democracy In America about the telling differences between Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's campaign logos and their various implementation strategies. Although this was something of a reprise of my 2004 Op-Ed for the New York Times, it was an interesting exercise in the differences between the 2008 race and the Bush-Kerry matchup. I made several points about how John Slabyk and the Obama folks really understood what we as magazine designers deal with every day, the notion that consistency and brand-building make for loyal and repeat customers. Now, with the dust settled on the Democratic nominating process, I thought it fun to go back and look at those differences as they were seen during the height of the back-and-forth. Hindsight is, as they say, 20-20. (Kind thanks to Sruthi Pinnamaneni and the folks at The Economist for making this audio available to SPD.)

Listen to the interview here.

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