The evolution of the Obama '08 logo

[Blue Velvet]

This isn't a political thread so no need to make any political points. It's just a look at how the campaign's logo evolved through its various stages to end up as it did, emblazoned across millions of flyers, buttons, web and print ads, and TV spots.

I've pulled these from here. The titles are my own.

Obama logo ideas that weren’t chosen

Sol Sender, who led a design team for the Obama 08 logo, was recently interviewed about the project.

Here’s a walk through the various logo options, with some of Sol’s thoughts. The full interview videos can be watched on the website of VSA Partners (where Sol is now a strategist).

Option 1: A wet floor

Option 2: Geometric transparency

Option 3: The first big 'O', gradients and a settling upon a bold sans, American Gothic for other branding

“We did see the O as standing for something beyond just the first initial of the candidates name.”

• There were others... but the final three that got into the next round to be comped up:

“We developed a lot of logos. Usually we only develop two to four, maybe five. There were fifteen, sixteen options, and we focused on three.”

The optimism and sunny future theme with the 'O'

“This masking of different photos with the O shape became an opportunity to say different things in different moments… The O could contain all these different ideas, possibilities and feelings.”

The conversation and buzz theme

“There was a lot of excitement about this. People felt this was really something new, something different. It was a kind of populist expression — everyone’s excited about Obama, people are talking… (but) it was a little too far out of the box. We felt that having a little more tradition in the mark was the smart way to go.”

The O as a rising sun

“For me personally, this was always the one.”

Originally the stripes were kind of symmetrically expressed across the horizon, and as we went into final refinements we felt that giving it a little bit more dimension, a little bit more motion, ways to enter into it a little bit more for the viewer was a better way to go.”

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

The optimism and sunny future theme with the 'O'

Isn't that a windows 2000 wallpaper showing through?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I think the one they ended up going with was brilliant. Obama ran, by far, the slickest campaign in history.

 

[klymr]

I think the one they ended up going with was brilliant. Obama ran, by far, the slickest campaign in history.

I was about to say the same thing! I loved his logo, but not necessarily his policies. From a designers viewpoint, he had it won from the beginning.

Thanks for posting this history Blue Velvet!

 

[Blue Velvet]

Isn't that a windows 2000 wallpaper showing through?

Possibly. It's just a comp though, a worked-up rough so that clients can get an idea of how things could look... in the final version of the logo, for instance, you can see how the final selection was then worked upon even more to get it to its final result.

 

[EricNau]

That first one is horrid, but it's not nearly as bad as number 5:

I think they made a very good choice in the final logo.

 

[Blue Velvet]

That first one is horrid, but it's not nearly as bad as number 5:

But these are just simple ideas to discuss at a first stage meeting... if that one had showed promise, it would have been worked upon to get it to look nicer, with more polish and dynamism.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I think Obama is very lucky that he ran in the '08 election. There are so many fun things you can do with '08 and Obama and Hope and things with Os and Bs, zeros and eights.

EDIT: maybe lucky isn't the right word, but I don't know what other word I should use.

 

[Doctor Q]

That Windows-desktop logo gave me an instant negative reaction!

I think Obama is very lucky that he ran in the '08 election. There are so many fun things you can do with '08 and Obama and Hope and things with Os and Bs, zeros and eights.

Not to mention running in the age of computers. Having to design a logo to be carved on stone tablets wouldn't have given the design team as many possibilities.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

An interesting read, and hopefully a bit of an insight to non-design folk about what actually goes into developing a successful logo. Thanks for the link, BV.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

An interesting read, and hopefully a bit of an insight to non-design folk about what actually goes into developing a successful logo. Thanks for the link, BV.

I sure learned a lot, I really liked the first couple of simple logos, although I know had they been chosen they would have been dramatically altered. I really dislike the speech bubble ones though, that just screams advertisement to me. I know that really they're all advertisements, but the bubbles make me feel like I'm being told to do something.

 

[TwinCities Dan]

I am not in design but I consider myself art-savvy, I was discussing Obama's logo with some friends a few months ago. I thought it was brilliant the blue sky (Dems), red fields (Repubs) and the sun (New Day, new beginning, new president). I thought it was a very good, almost subliminal way to show how Obama could provide "hope" and "reach across the isle".

Maybe I read too much into it but I thought it was genius.

 

[macworkerbee]

I saw this on Brand New a few days ago. I really enjoy when a designer is transparent about what went on in the process to creating a very successful and iconic mark. Well done, thanks for sharing this!

 

[murdock25]

YouTube Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rADuB2Vzbc