07 January 2009

The Obama Transition Announces The Official Inaguration Poster

1896.(Via Huffington Post) Here is the offical poster for the inaugural celebration of President Obama:



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.


Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Powered by ScribeFire.

1 comment:

stan said...

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.