We’ve joined the Carnegie team! Find out more.
Alert Close close
Intelligence
Political Type

Intelligence

Political Type

Apr 03, 2008By mStoner Staff

My colleague Katie Jennings forwarded me an interesting New York Times article about the impact typography has on our perceptions of the ‘08 Presidential campaigns.

I liked this article because it demonstrates how something as simple as a font choice can be a vehicle for delivering a brand. The characterstics of typography can help make a positive statement about a person or institution, and can help distinguish us from our competitors. Typography alone isn’t going to deliver the full message, but along with design considerations like color and photography, we can begin to paint a picture about what makes an organization unique.

Interestingly, I visited the Hillary Clinton Campaign site today and noticed they had incorporated the Gotham face (the font of the Obama campaign which is praised in this article) heavily into the flash unit on their home page. Considering the circulation that the NY Times gets, this may not be a coincidence!

I also visited the McCain Campaign site and noticed it features heavy use of Optima. A bit more corporate than Gotham (partially because it’s an older font that’s been around since the 50s), Optima is still a nice, sophisticated face that takes the legibility of a sans serif face and dresses it up with some of the nice finishes that almost look like caligraphy. Thick and thin variation within characters without actual slabs or serifs give the font a unique appeal that looks formal, yet still approachable. Excellent choice, McCain Campaign designers.

On a side note, Gotham is a house favorite here at mStoner; you can see it in action for the design work we did on Kellogg School of Management’s Insight and Centennial site.