Gotham City

More than Clinton and McCain, I'm fascinated with the branding of Obama's campaign. I think it started in February with a Newsweek interview with Michael Beirut.

How else is Obama's design different than what has come before--or what rival campaigns are doing?

He's the first candidate, actually, who's had a coherent, top-to-bottom, 360-degree system at work. Whereas, I think it's more more common for politicians to have a bumper-sticker symbol that they just stick on everything and hope that that will carry the day.

The thing that sort of flabbergasts me as a professional graphic designer is that, somewhere along the way, they decided that all their graphics would basically be done in the same typeface, which is this typeface called Gotham. If you look at one of his rallies, every single non-handmade sign is in that font. Every single one of them. And they're all perfectly spaced and perfectly arranged. Trust me. I've done graphics for events --and I know what it takes to have rally after rally without someone saying, "Oh, we ran out of signs, let's do a batch in Arial." It just doesn't seem to happen. There's an absolute level of control that I have trouble achieving with my corporate clients.

Then if you go to the Web site, it's all reflected there too--all the same elements showing up in this clean, smooth, elegant way. It all ties together really, really beautifully as a system.

The campaign uses two fonts: the Humanist Requiem and the sans-serif Gotham, both created by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Remember how people compared Hillary's logo to a Talbot's suit? Well, Requiem is the reason people keep comparing Obama's to Armani.

Gotham was commissioned seven years ago for GQ Magazine. Jonathan Hoefler told the producers of the film Helvetica, "GQ had a dual agenda of wanting something that would look very fresh, yet very established, to have a credible voice to it. It also needed to look very masculine and 'of-the-moment.'" Sound familiar?



I've fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. It's gotten to the point where my fascist perfectionist tendencies are starting to show through, because this...

Shepard Fairey

This drives me crazy. That's not Gotham. That's a squished Helvetica some other fancy H&FJ font. No! Tear it down! Burn it! IT DOESN'T MATCH.

20x200

Towards Christiana (Copenhagen)
by Rachel Sussman

I've finally found something worth hanging over my bed. Once I manage to clean up the massive pile of laundry covering my floor, I just might be ready for some "after" shots of the project.

By the way, I recommend signing up for email alerts from 20x200. The good prints sell out fast. This one was gone in well under twenty minutes.

Alka Seltzer vs. Talbots

A long while ago, we decided not to make political posts, deeming the subject well-outside the scope of our already schizophrenic blog. Besides, there was little we could say that wasn't already being discussed by more eloquent and educated writers. And so, we have remained silent on the election, activism, and government. Well, usually.

But readers, I have discovered a loophole – the intersection of design and politics is fair game–and now I'm a little silly with pleasure at the thought of writing about branding in the '08 election.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Let's start with the Hillary and McCain's campaigns. The typography group Hoefler & Frere-Jones write:

Hillary's snooze of a serif might have come off a heart-healthy cereal box, or a mildly embarrassing over-the-counter ointment; if you're feeling generous you might associate it with a Board of Ed circular, or an obscure academic journal. But Senator McCain's typeface is positively mystifying: after three decades signifying a very down-market notion of luxe, this particular sans serif has settled into being the font of choice for the hygiene aisle.

Yes, McCain's font Optima is used to brand Aston Martin, Alka Seltzer and Estee Lauder, but it is also the font on Maya Lin's Veitnam Memorial in DC. It's a bit of a gamble. Will voters associate the font with the military sacrifice or face cream? The New York Times election blog asked graphic designers weigh in. A few responses:

"Optima is one of the worst pre-computer typefaces ever designed. It was created to satisfy everybody’s needs. A straightforward, no-nonsense, no-embellishment face, it comes in regular and bold but little character can be found in either weight. Optima is not inappropriate for use by Senator McCain."
–Seymour Chwast, illustrator and designer, Pushpin Studio

"With a mix of Roman dignity and a subtle military presence, the typeface communicates the qualities seemingly most important to the candidate; honor and virtue. One could also say there is a slight sense of quirkiness that is also apparent in the candidate. But it is still a safe choice."
–Thomas Porostocky, art director, I.D. Magazine

"Optima is the ultimate noncommittal typeface. It’s a sans-serif typeface with the suggestion of false serifs. It’s also a serif typeface without serifs. Either way, it’s a half-truth. Optima is the best typeface for appeal to all viewers and projecting sophistication without really having sophistication. It’s a typeface used to trick people into thinking they are involving themselves in something more important and more desirable than it actually is. The bottom line with Optima is the bottom line: 'Nothing personal, it’s only business…'"
–Art Chantry, graphic designer

Hillary's font is much older than McCain's, a bastardized Baskerville in a stodgy bold. People have been comparing it to the logos of law firms, insurance companies, Microsoft PC's and, yes, literary magazines for gifted children and their families. My favorite description was from NPR's interview with The Font Bureau's Sam Berlow on On the Media.

If you look at Hillary’s campaign, it’s really a throwback to Reagan and Bush. It has that feeling of old typography from the '70s and '80s. It’s serif. It’s sort of highwaisted, as if the lower case, the pants had been pulled up too high. It feels sort of like a bad Talbots suit. Doesn't quite fit right.

Aw. My mother loves Talbots. My soft spot for Hillary grows just a tiny bit more. Next up: Barry O. and the Metrosexual Typeface That Saved the World.

major

1. who doesn't love the imagist?
2. i don't usually like major because of the way they pimp their models out like falcon studios porn stars, but hopefully these images of aaron bruckner mean that they're moving away from the overly buff, overly buffed, overly tanned freakshow. i mean, no more coy, over-the-shoulder ass shots on comp cards, please.

eurovision preview: ireland

dustin the turkey - "irlande douze pointe"

ireland - semifinal 1, draw 11; 24th in 2007

oh my god. this is the second-gayest entry in eurovision ever, and considering that drag queens of all shapes and sizes show up every year and that 1998 was won by a tranny, that's saying a lot. poor ireland.

the gayest entry ever, of course, was bosnia & herzegovina a few years ago, with deen's "in the disco." who needs biting commentary for this? how much twinkier can you get?

comment party: SJP on vogue

ok, readers, here we go. what is sarah jessica parker thinking about while being photographed for the june cover of vogue? best answer wins the undying adulation of the gold diggers.

bookcase drama, dudes

of the many hurdles i've faced in my life (chronic earaches, heartbreak, the new breed of "super-skinny" jeans overtaking every men's store in the world), the one that has persisted the longest without any resolve is my attempt to find housing for my books that isn't totally cheap and fug.

right now my entire book collection is living in stacks a la boheme on the floor in my den. i would like to keep them in my dining room, as it's rather massive and has a nook that would be perfect for some bookshelves. i REALLY have my heart set on getting something modular, like these featured in domino last month.



those, of course, are custom, and while i'm pretty handy, i'm not sure i could build something like that.

as for retailer options, we got slim pickin's, reader. my all-time favorite book storage is definitely the cubits bookcases from dwr.



but as i have hundreds of books, i would need at least five kits to house all of them, and that's a little over $1100, which i cannot afford on my humble server salary.

i'm afraid i might have to go the classic carrie bradshaw/college student route and get that goddamn expedit bookcase from ikea...



...which is acceptable, i guess, and omg so affordable, but i am hoping to find something a little more sophisticated and interesting. one of my long-term goals for the year is to cover all my books because i'm terribly sick of looking at all the ugly graphic design on my mountain of poetry books (apparently poets aren't aesthetes anymore), and i would like to have something equally as foxy to hold them. the search continues....

golden disk, it's a terrible shame

One of the many terrible things about being a chronic window shopper is that when you finally do have some spare cash, you can think of a hundred different ways to burn through it fast.

I'm currently fighting the urge to buy an external hard-drive. I know what you're thinking. That sounds far too sensible to be considered a splurge item. Well, it's extravagant if you don't actually need half a terabyte of storage space. It's also extravagant if your primary motive for buying the hard-drive is because it is really really pretty. Like, really.

LaCie Golden Disk, $160

Reader, you cannot imagine my inner turmoil right now.

for when ikea and muji have been exhausted

I can't recall if I've mentioned KIOSK before, but it's fantastic. It's a a little store in Soho that "curates" tools, toys and basics from all over the world. They're usually small, practical, beautifully designed, and just a touch exotic.

Are they overpriced? Yes. Very. But they're still irresistably charming.

Now, if you're into KIOSK, you're going to love Labour & Wait. Their products are similar, but L&W has a very Martha tone. You know. Clean, elegant and quiet.




Ugh. I want my life to have a Martha tone.

Mai 08

Justice–Stress
dir. Romain-Gavras

holy fuck.