The power of brand in an election is well illustrated with the Obama Brand during the 2008 elections. This was a well articulated brand campaign that has been heralded to have been one of the things that helped Barrack Obama occupy the White House. The choice of the colors, the fonts, and the overall design displays nothing but all the attributes expected from a quality and professional logo design. Though there were other presidential aspirants with equally strong brands during the campaigns, Obama Brand managed to floor all of them and was the most recognizable logo out of all of them.

Whereas Steve Jobs brought a great passion for design which ended up changing the world of computers forever, team Obama brought intelligent political marketing which defined the entire campaigns and ultimately contributed to the win at the ballot. The design brought by the Obama Brand was not just meant for bumper stickers which could then be thrown away once the campaigns were over. It was about identity. It started a movement which ended up creating a brand that can only be compared to the President himself.

Distinctive design to inspire hope

The Obama logo featured a blue “O” rising over a field of white and red stripes, resembling the American sunrise was like Obama’s own Nikes Swoosh. Without using any single word, it became the face of the modern day politics. It helped the humble senator from Illinois to have seamless brand identity envied by thousands of global businesses.

But one may wonder how a seemingly simple logo managed to help a man win a presidential election in the United States! We take a look at some of the greater design components that the logo had and try to dissect them from a designer’s point of view and see just how it was possible for a logo to help someone become the president of the most powerful nation on earth.

The Logo Uses Gotham Font

The Gotham font is a modern, clean and bold font. It is believed that this font was the cornerstone of the aspirant’s visual identity. Election campaigns are fond of using a wide variety of typefaces, which in most cases are never given any due consideration and are always at the mercies of the printer. But this was not the case, since the Obama Campaign team desired uniformity and discipline in all the branding materials. The Gotham worked wonders because it looks nice and it was uniformly applied across the campaign branding. It, later on, became known as the Obama font.

Intelligent Choice of Colors

Looking at the Obama Campaign Logo, you will notice the intelligent use of colors. Colors were not just picked off the street and used to patch up the logo, but there was a deep thought process that went into choosing the colors. The logo had only three colors – blue, red and white, very basic colors but loaded with lots of meaning. These are the same colors that done the American flag, with white and red being the predominant ones.

With the popularity of the American flag, it was easy for supporters to immediately connect deeply and emotionally with the logo. This fostered love, admiration, and passion and also made him earn thousands of supporters who carried him straight to the house on the hill. From the perspective of a minimalist designer, using few colors in logo design is essential for effective brand identity, and this is exactly what the branding team for President Obama adopted and it worked like a charm.

Hidden Meanings

The Obama logo had a conspicuous “O” resembling the American sun rising beyond the white and red stripes. This had lots of meaning for the American people back then. The rising of the sun signifies a new dawn. It brings hope for a new beginning. It is an indication that a new era has come, and you can start all over again for a better begin.

This is the message Obama used during the campaigns, painting himself as the hope and the change the American people can believe in, and he also gave them the affirmation that it was possible with his famous declaration of “Yes We Can”. This made him get a lot of swing votes which he would have otherwise not received.

Versatility

An effective logo should be versatile, and this was clearly evident in the Obama logo. Whenever you looked at it, it appeared the same. It was well presented on materials like flyers, tees, posters, banners, etc. It looked great as well in both laptop and mobile devices. This helped in enhancing the consistency of the logo, making the Obama Brand even more effective than the rest of the competitors.

The Obama logo has not just been a major point of reference for other politicians keen on building strong election brands, but also, a lot of corporate organizations and business have borrowed a few concepts from it in driving their brands. It changed the whole concept of election branding in the United States.

How often should you revamp your logo? Find out here!

The post Obama Branding: How a Logo Helped a Presidential Campaign appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Can a custom presidential campaign logo affect the history of a nation? Many didn’t think so a while back, but the use of logos in presidential campaigns in the United States has just confirmed the power of logos in winning elections. Most recent one is the exquisite campaign logo for President Barrack Obama, which was hailed to have been extremely instrumental in his campaigns and ultimate election as the President of the United States of America.

Whereas a logo alone is not sufficient to win a presidential election, its role in the Obama campaign can no longer be ignored by presidential hopefuls. Here we take a look at the top US presidential campaign logos and the various roles they played during the presidential campaigns-:

Obama 2008 Logo Design

Barrack Obama’s winning slogan for the 2008 presidential elections was “Yes We Can”. This necessitated the creation of an inclusive custom logo using the letter “O”. The design was even more appropriate since apart from the inclusivity of the circle, it also indicated the first letter of Barrack’s last name.

On the design aspects of the logo, it has red and white stripes with the letter O rising from behind reminiscent of the American sunrise. It represented a new dawn for Americans who had many challenges as a nation back then. This logo was taunted as the best ever to be designed in the country’s election history and it has acted as a prototype for many politicians, not only in the United States but other countries in the world as well.

Bush Logo Design

The Bush logo design for the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections is also considered as one of the best presidential campaign logo designs in the history of the United States. The custom logo had deep military style color blue and this acted to represent one of the pillars of the Bush administration: the military prowess of the USA and the continued war in Iraq.

It also had the flag of the United States towards the very end appearing unfurled as if dancing in the wind during a breezy day. Also admirable about the Bush presidential campaign logo was the use of bold and readable fonts that made the logo more visible hence easily recognizable by many.

Clinton 1996 Campaign Logo

The Clinton presidential logo of 1996 used the dominant colors of the flag of the United States of America: red and blue heavily. With the deeper tones of these colors, the Clinton logo was very endearing, yet exuded simplicity and boldness in design. It had bold, news-like fonts which gave a hard line to a personality that was otherwise known as a softie.

The logo had no special images or icons and only used the name of the presidential candidate and the running mate, not even with anything to give an indication of the beliefs of the candidates. Nonetheless, the logo captivated the imagination of most Americans with the use of the flag colors and it successfully managed to inspire the people to beyond the scandals that plagued the administration during that time.

Reagan 1980 Logo Design

The Reagan presidential campaign logo in 1980 featured a bold and a patriotic image in the design. He used blocked sans serif lettering which stood out conspicuously on a white background improving the simplicity and the legibility of the logo.

Reagan decided to use a strong and a more traditional image of an elephant to pass the message to the American people that he was going to be more aggressive than his predecessor. This not only worked well for the design but also made the electorates have more faith and confidence in him, thus contributing to his win during the elections.

Hillary Clinton Campaign Logo 

After the Obama presidential campaign logo, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the top seat in 2016 has also seen the country see perfection in the design of presidential campaign logos. The Clinton’s campaign logo is nothing fancy but a simple letter H with a forward looking arrow. The logo uses only two colors: red and blue.

This logo displays deep originality, which is lacking in almost all the other prudential campaign logos. It is a perfect demonstration of minimalism and versatility in design. It is also loaded with secret meanings: The letter H signifies the name of the presidential candidate while the forward looking arrow is an indication that Hillary Clinton intends to take the country forward. Finally, the blue and red colors are colors of American flag hence a show of patriotism.

Donald Trump Campaign Logo

The real estate mogul turned presidential aspirant has done a great job in the design of his presidential campaign logo. It is a simple and elegant design displaying all the desired features for minimalist logo design. The font, as well as the use of words, is also spot on as he tries to re-ignite the American passion for greatness by urging everyone to join him in making America great one more time.

How many fonts are too many in a logo design?

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