I know you can't necessarily judge a book by its cover. But with the release of yesterday's Republican budget-without-numbers (what Olbermann's calling the "fudge-it"), I thought a little comparison might be in order. The cover of the administration's budget is on the left, the Repubs' is on the right.
A. Obama color: deep blue = executive power. Repub color: washed-out blue that looks like it came from carbon paper or a ditto machine = cheap knock-off.
B. Obama typeface: Clean, crisp, sans-serif, defined border = modern, decisive, we mean business. Repub typeface: serif that looks like it was used for John Adams's budget, oddly placed italics = old-fashioned, out-of-touch, ideas are literally dated.
C. Obama iconographic embellishments: C1 = matching swirly-curly cues = balance and positive ties to the past; C2 = presidential seal = take that, party out of power! Repub iconographic embellishments: bad knock-off of presidential seal taken out of context looks vaguely like Nazi iconography = ballsy, no ideas of our own, dangerous and impulsive.
B. Obama typeface: Clean, crisp, sans-serif, defined border = modern, decisive, we mean business. Repub typeface: serif that looks like it was used for John Adams's budget, oddly placed italics = old-fashioned, out-of-touch, ideas are literally dated.
C. Obama iconographic embellishments: C1 = matching swirly-curly cues = balance and positive ties to the past; C2 = presidential seal = take that, party out of power! Repub iconographic embellishments: bad knock-off of presidential seal taken out of context looks vaguely like Nazi iconography = ballsy, no ideas of our own, dangerous and impulsive.
Wow, There was no biased in that assessement... From a graphic design stand point the use of white space on the Republican budget much better than the Dems. Old typeface is called a classic serif font (looks like Bodoni or Caslon) and equating the presidential seal to Nazi iconographic images is a little over the top. The font the Dems use reminds me too much of the default face on my Mac(either Optima, Verdana, or Myriad). The embellishments are more John Adams budget than the Republicans typefont.
Overall, the Republican one comes off clean, no clutter,
(not hiding anything?) The Dems comes off as too busy you don't know where to look (or maybe that's what their trying to do). I'm still trying to figure out where you got dangerous and impulsive from a graphic design.
I tend to view graphic design with a little bit more objectivity. Companies or groups do brand marketing and design with a large amount of subjectivity to get their message across to their target audience.
PS: I get the joke...
Posted by: Jim Finnegan | 27 March 2009 at 02:28 PM
Ha! Go big brother! Of course, calling EITHER of these bureaucratic docs "graphic design" is probably a little generous, isn't it? Re: Nazi iconography, I'm reminded of the creepy eagle image from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." Seriously, to me the repubs' looks like the title page of a student paper with clip art attached. Also, note there's no "author" - the road is Republican, but where are the authors? Who will claim this fabulous 18 page budget without numbers? Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by: caraf | 27 March 2009 at 03:20 PM
Nobody wants to claim responsibility anymore. Graphic design for politicians? Students do a better job than either party. I was thinking...what would a really good design for the budget look like? Anyone? Student project?
Stay tuned...
Posted by: Jim Finnegan | 30 March 2009 at 11:36 AM