OUGD501: Political Branding

Hillary Clinton's loosing campaign for the recent presidential elections

Essay by Michael Beruit, sourced from Design Observer on 3/04/17 (http://designobserver.com/feature/im-with-her/39523).

"And everywhere I looked was that H logo: on badges, buttons, stickers, T-shirts, and totebags; on directional signs and video monitors; and ablaze on a giant screen that hung above the stage. It was on that stage that we expected to see our candidate before the night was over, arms raised in victory beneath an emblem that I had designed. "

The optimism Beruit anticipated for the win of Clinton in the 2016 elections, this would confirm the formulaic success of his campaign branding. However, this goes sadly wrong.

"The night ended sooner than I thought, and differently than everyone expected. Going home, with my necktie with its pattern of H logos loosened around my neck, embarrassed by my hubris and worried about the future of our nation, I tried to figure out what had gone wrong."

Beruit explains his faith in (then) Senator Clinton and his optimism towards the 'first female president' campaign, who was fully qualified and had years of experience under her belt. He says how he put together a three-person team, consisting of himself, designer Jesse Reed and project manager Julia Lemle. 

"We would work in secret for the next two months. Our first meeting with the Clinton team began with a simple statement: “Our candidate has 100 percent name recognition.” 

The essay goes on to discuss corporate identity and political branding have a similar language. In 2008 Sol Sender, Amanda Gentry and Andy Keene were tasked with designing Barack Obama's campaign, whom at the time had little-to-no name recognition. The design team responded with a quintessentially professional identity, encompassing as much business strategy as graphic design.

"Obama’s persona, unfamiliar, untested, and potentially alarming to much of the voting public—was given a polished logo and a perfectly executed, utterly consistent typographic system. In short, they made a surprising candidate seem familiar."

Even at the beginning of the Clinton campaign, she was a globally known figure with huge name recognition and associations made from that, so they tried to break it down into the simplest forms. Below is Michael Beurits words on the reaction towards the logo, which as we know, was over ruled by Trumps victory.

Talk show hosts and non-critics were open to their own view on the H logo. By the mediums the logo was being presented on- social media article- poster- tshirt- smartwatch- 30ft banner- everybody was accessible to judge the designer.  And there was something all so gleefully vicious about it. 

Alternative version of the H logo which gained media attention. (Fox News, online and social media).

"It was just some simple geometric shapes and a couple of primary colors, yet it seemed to drive so many people crazy. My wife Dorothy helped put things in perspective. “Maybe,” she said, “this isn’t really all about your little logo.” 

Despite the negative response by the press, Beiruit tried to remain optimistic, as the team was confident in the work suggested they had no intention of abandoning it. In the end, people realised that H was simply a symbol for equality and diversity, accessible to everyone 

Trump Branding

Graphic design has aided political campaigns, with the Trump identity excessively American signifiers reflecting his campaign’s symbolic coding. The use of the Stars and Stripes flag directly targets those who identify with that flag (and therefore identify as an American)-. The benefit of Trump doing this is when we consider identifiable groups, with almost everybody identifying with the brand, instilling a possible notion that every other campaigner which were not as openly patriot was against them and an ‘America hater’, all fuelled by the ‘Make America Great Again’ typography and advertising collateral. The target audience is responsive to the tone of voice and wholesome character, yet still appealing to the most frequent denominator. 

When people try and start a revolution it only leads to more oppression. Is Trump only preaching about ‘the good old days’, reverting racist, sexist ideologies within society, purely for commercial profit? Increase in racial hate means more incarcerations, the privatisation of the American prison system means profit is to be had to ‘refuel the economy’ but this is only repeating history when slavery and relegation was apparent over black people and women- especially young black men of colour, yet still profiting on them in the mean time commercially. 

Clean, RED/WHITE/BLUE stars and stripes pastiche, using clean powerful and legible typography. The wide kerning suggests an authoritative prescience, spanning across the whole page with the word 'Trump' standing proud and assertive over Pence. By having 'Trump Pence' it almost echoes linguistically 'Repent', suggesting what society will have to do once Trump gets in power.

TRUMP Presidential app, giving an easy way for passive watchers to catch up on the latest Trump antics

Tapping into past American iconography with patriotic connotations, re-appropriating the artwork for his own needs, tapping into the most generalist denominator of American society

Resulted in mass branding and a product/range/distribution operation being rolled out across America, with the centre being focused all around classic American Iconography. Styles of Tshirts/Flags etc look to appeal at more the South and Mid USA where more traditionalist attitudes still reign dominant.