Episode 97: Candidates and “Creatives”

In Ten Things That Need to Be Redesigned, Jessica asked,

Where is it written that all political candidates must have lawn signs that are red, white and blue?

That was in 2008. With the 2020 election looming (less than a year to the Iowa Caucus!) campaigns for candidates from Kamala Harris to Marianne Williamson have embraced distinctive logos in untraditional color schemes.

Michael says,

What won in 2016 was not a logo but a tagline, and I know that the Hillary Clinton campaign was just so frustrated to find a reductive slogan for the candidate and finally came up with “Stronger Together.” Which is fine, but obviously didn’t stick. and I bet a lot of people can’t even say it. However, every person can recite, either with pride with clenched teeth, the slogan of her victorious competitor.

Also mentioned this week:

• Deroy Peraza, Hyperakt, The Women Running for President Are Breaking the Rules of Branding, also reprinted on Fast Company
• Jessica Helfand, Ten Things That Need to Be Redesigned, (2008)
• Jonathan V. Last, Kamala Harris’s Logo Is a Disaster. Here’s Why.
• Marianne Williamson’s logo
• Jessica on Every Little Thing and The Monocle Weekly podcasts
• 50 Books | 50 Covers competition
• Jody Rosen, New York Times Magazine, Does ‘Creative’ Work Free You From Drudgery, or Just Security?
• Erin Griffith, New York Times, Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?
• Anne Helen Petersen, BuzzFeed News, How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation
• Italo Calvino, The Adventure of a Photographer
• Ellsworth Kelly stamps
• Flowers on Netflix

Subscribe to The Observatory on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, or follow Design Observer on Spotify or Soundcloud.