It's designed by Shepherd Fairey and continues the rather exciting graphic approach seen during the campaign, with a very limited, posterized color palette and the dynamic play of flat color.
HuffPo sees it this way:
It is the next step in the branding of the presidency -- a development that is not unique to Obama but one that he has used better than any other politician in recent memory.
Fairey's initial design -- a guerrilla style, dark-colored portrait of the then-candidate -- proved to be a political and cultural phenomenon during the campaign. The current edition plays heavily off those themes and it seems likely to be a major symbol during the inauguration festivities. The image will be available on buttons, lapel pins, stickers and t-shirts.
As a designer, I'd say that "guerilla style" is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. But that's as may be. I do agree on the branding viewpoint; if there were a Nobel Prize in Marketing, whoever's driving Obama's branding deserves it, hands down.
Regardless of what you think of him, it's hard to deny that, in the context of the buttoned-down world of USA politics, it's like a firework exploding. It's exciting and very new. I enjoy this style; it takes the average world of political visual design and splashes a big dash of hot sauce on it.
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1 comment:
What I like about the design is that it takes the red, white and blue standard and twists it - the white is off-white, the blues are dark and muted and the red is kind of tomato-y. Another subtle symbol that change is afoot.
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