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Stop with the Logos!
A company needs a good logo. A politician needs a good name. But since the turn of the century (this one!) presidential candidates, or their handlers, have decided that they need to be graphically branded like Coca-Cola.
The Obama camp took it to a whole new, creepy level. And now I’m sure all the campaigns are focus grouping the bejeebers out of font styles and graphic elements. That the Clinton folks came up with something that resembles a hospital sign only says that they have the same level of taste in design that they do in candidates.
Three years ago Mitt Romney went to war with a squiggled red, white and blue “R” that said, “Please remember to brush after every meal and see your dentist twice a year!”
Let’s take a look at how the Republican entries are doing this go-around:
As we can see, Senators Paul and Cruz are on fire, supposedly with the Torch of Liberty but it could just be an angry mob. Paul’s is more esthetically pleasing but I dislike the use of just the first name. Just Elvis. Just Cher. Now, just “Rand.” And someone needs to tell Cruz’s people that in any American flag theme the stars always lead.
As for marcorubio – yeah, the man with evidently no shift key or space bar – all I have to say is, if you’re going to ripoff a look, you can do better than this:
I hate the Cruz logo; it’s a teardrop of flag-oil in the shape of the Al-Jazeera logo, or something. The Rubio logo literally implies the man is bigger than the country he wants to lead. There’s a reason no one uses the ungainly shape of the country in their logos.
Can you talk the family into suing?
The sad fact is is that Obama proved that the “Logo”, or branding, works. It works very well, and Coca Cola isn’t complaining. Either is Obama.
It gives the advertising consultants something to do. Keeps them away from policy.
My logo for the past 18 years has been a mountain scene with a stethoscope sliding down it like ski runs. These politicians should hire my old baby sitter who thought it all up. She’s better than all 3 of those.
I believe his name is Mar Corubio. Sheesh!
I’m actually becoming quite fond of Hillary’s logo.
I thought he was Irish and it was Marc O’Rubio. Who’da thunk it.
Rand Paul’s logo makes me think of a gas station…. isn’t there a gas station chain somewhere that uses something similar?
I appreciate what Rubio is trying for here, kind of minimal and modern, but the US silhouette looks like a bug or an ink smudge, so… not good.
Speaking of ink:
If the Cruz campaign is going to, ahem, appropriate designs from other sources, they probably shouldn’t pick a logo that all of us see all the time on just about every paper product we use.
(In the interest of bi-partisanship, I’ll add this: Hillary’s logo is pretty underwhelming too)
If someone could get the rights to use this for their logo, the election would be in the bag:
There is a long American tradition of buying votes for rum, but I thought Bacardi’s logo was a little different than that.
Seawriter
I thought it was a fish.
I think once supporters start putting up Hillary Clinton’s H with an arrow signs, we are going to see a bunch of ambulance drivers getting lost trying to find the hospital.
When I first saw Hillary’s logo pop up on conservative sites, I thought it was some sort of coordinated right-wing spoof. I’m starting to think that it speaks volumes about her campaign.
First one to use this gets my vote.
Ugh, I don’t like any of these. Rand Paul’s makes him look like a publisher of textbooks.
These are all terrible. Both Rand Paul and Cruz are going for the whole torch of liberty thing, which may be a good concept but both of these are failed attempts. The marcorubio thing is a disaster.
EJ,
It would be interesting to go back and compare the logos of all the presidential winners and losers to see how important presidential campaign logos are.
I kinda like this one:
It’s those little details that matter.
Wait till next year!
I wonder what Joe Biden’s logo would look like…… (something literal I expect)
I hypothesize that it goes back to the success of Bush-Cheney vs. the failure of Kerry-Edwards.
http://www.brandautopsy.com/2004/10/dissecting_the_.html
It’s sorta like lawn signs. Lawn signs don’t win votes, but having fewer lawn signs than the other guy almost certainly loses votes.
In a similar way, a good logo doesn’t win votes, but a logo that’s worse than your opponent’s logo will almost certainly lose you votes.
Furthermore, from a design perspective, Rand Paul’s logo is awesome.
The use of negative space to create the handle of Liberty’s Torch is inspired.
Rubio’s logo is crud. A (incomplete!) map of the US as the dot in the ‘i’? That’s lame. Americans identify themselves with ideas and symbols, not with maps. Using a map to symbolize a nation smacks of the creepy sort of lifeless nationalism one gets from the mind of an architect like Albert Speer.
Also, the dot in the letter ‘i’ is optional. It disappears when the letter is capitalized. Is Rubio saying that America is optional and will be discarded once he’s in the capital?
Ted Cruz’ logo is adequate, but way too busy, and really rather uninspired. I also don’t understand why he would set fire to the American flag. Seems disrespectful.
Hillary Clinton’s logo would be fine for a supermarket, but it’s lousy for a candidate.
If you look at the ‘R’ in that logo, it’s supposed to evoke the idea of human beings coming together in solidarity.
Didn’t really work, because the R was overshadowed by the rest of the logo so the symbolism was lost, because the three people look like they’re waiting in line (at the DMV or the unemployment line?), and also because three different typefaces in one logo is a megafail.
That’s one reason Obama’s “O” worked so well. There are multiple layers of symbolism in that logo (sunrise,fields of grain or a highway, an arch or a hug or a halo, etc…), and it’s allowed to stand alone so people focus on it exclusively.
This is the winner:
Support our inevitable overlord here: https://www.facebook.com/cthulhuforprez
I might suggest we exercise a bit of caution on the logo critiques, else the discussion might descend into critiques of each other’s avatars. Or maybe my own?
The illustrious EJ created mine, but it seems he neglected the most recognizable symbol of my illustrious University of Oregon Ducks. Perhaps one of the opponents of the latest Dirty Rotten Scoundrel should contact Phil Knight and bring him into the fold…
My avatar is a paragon of semiotic perfection.
Which is not to be confused with semi-erotic perfection. It only means Mis drinks… a lot.
And “semi” inevitably leads to “auto”.