Shepherd's Pi

FACT:  John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have chosen distinctively different typeface fonts for their campaign posters, bumper stickers, and TV-ad logos. 

Obama uses sans serif Gotham.  McCain uses sans serif Optima. Only Clinton uses a serif, New Baskerville.  According to the Los Angeles Times yesterday, many typographers are following the usage choices closely, and now some political analysts are finding message in the medium; Obama’s choice is “the hot font of 2008,” Clinton’s font flourishes “conjure trustworthiness,” while McCain’s communicates an “old-fashioned yet quirky vibe.”

ANALYSIS:  Anyone who remembers their first experience with a personal computer’s word-processing program recalls that initial thrill when the realization hit: I can choose any font? I can choose any font!!!

Billions of funky emails, resumes, and yard-sale posters later, we’re all perhaps jaded by the profusion of font styles, and tend to have built up biases and defenses regarding certain looks.

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Filed under: Government, Microsoft, Society, Technology | Tagged: 2008, Aric Sigman, Barack, Barack Obama, campaign, campaigns, candidate, candidates, Clinton, communication, communications, computer, computers, consultants, culture, election, election 2008, elections, font, fonts, Gotham, Government, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, IT, John McCain, LA, LA Times, LAT, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, marketing, mass media, McCain, media, Microsoft, New Baskerville, news, newspaper, Obama, optima, personality, political campaign, political campaigns, political consultant, political consultants, politics, poster, posters, presidency, president, presidential campaign, press, psychology, Simon Daniels, Society, speech, speeches, speechwriting, tech, Technology, television, Tobias Frere-Jones, TV, typeface, typefaces, typography, vote, voter, voters, voting | 2 Comments »