(cross-posted at Daily Kos)
Over at Daily Kos' Diary Rescue last night, a rescued diary about each individual candidate's website made me think about the Internet aspect of each Democratic campaign. Tonight, I'd just like to get everyone's thoughts on what they think of each campaign's logo to date. Below the fold, I'll post each individual campaign's logo, and I'd like to solicit everyone's thoughts as to what they think about them. This is usually an aspect of any political campaign that tends to be overlooked, but in 2008, I think there's one candidate who takes full advantage of a logo's simplicity to create a powerful symbol.
Representative Dennis Kucinich
As usual, the logos are colored in red, white, in blue; only John Edwards deviates, adding a green trail to the shooting star beneath his name. Aside from that, though, many of the campaign logos aren't particularly eye-catching. Dennis Kucinich's logo, to me, is by far the worst. Chris Dodd employs a simple blue-and-white scheme. It looks a bit stately, perhaps a reflection on his 26 years of service in the Senate. Hillary Clinton's logo seems like the prototypical image that is projected by presidential campaigns, with the notable exception being that she refers to herself by her first name.
The one logo that stands out, though, is Barack Obama's. The rest aren't that special; they integrate the traditional colors of the American flag, oftentimes employing the flag itself as a backdrop, into the logo. Obama, though, has found a new way of bringing to life the most visual aspect of any political campaign outside of the candidate themselves. The red-and-white stripes in the bottom half of the 'O' come from the American flag, but transposing it above a clear blue sky and a rising sun evokes the kind of imagery that jibes well with Obama's theme of beginning anew. The symbolism is difficult to miss, and it gives people an easy, positive mental association by which they can remember the senator. If anything, Obama's campaign will probably change the kinds of designs that we will see in future presidential campaigns due to his team's fresh, sleek, sophisticated logo.
In all, this is a rather trivial matter. People should base their decisions for who to vote for on other issues of far greater importance than a campaign logo. Nevertheless, political campaigns are essentially the marketing of a person to the American public, and a simple visual reminder, when utilized properly, can serve a small but important purpose.
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