Obama Fonts Discussion

[Pryderi]

I've been trying to figure out what font the Obama campaign uses for it's schwag. Is it Georgia? Garamond, Palatino Linotype? I can't figure it out. :(

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. It's the Gotham font.

[Pryderi]

2. That's not the one that is used for Obama's name. Gotham is a sans serif font, and "Obama" is

spelled with a serif font.

I think it might be Plantangenet Cherokee.

[Zuiderelle]

8. Yeah, but there are clearly two fonts used.

One for the text on the top, and another for Obama / Biden.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

10. It's used in the top half of the ad.

And it's the one "Change We Can Believe In" has.

I'm not sure about the font for the names, though.

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Try this site...

http://www.myfonts.com/whatthefont

[Radical Activist]

4. The same one Stalin used, I bet.

;-)

[undeterred]

9. Joey Stalin?

He was on "Friends". }(

[NJmaverick]

5. I vaguely remember hearing/reading that candidates

have their own custom fonts developed for their campaigns. Don't remember much more than that, other than they believe fonts have power to influence people.

[democracyindanger]

6. It's about branding

Sometimes a company will do the same. Volvo is the most obvious example.

[LeftyMom]

7. And fonts get associated with their most famous usage.

I saw a poster for a Bond movie festival that used the font from the Star Trek logo, and that threw me and was distracting even though it was otherwise a well done poster.

A campaign doesn't want a font that has a (potentially negative) association for anybody.

[begin_within]

11. I think they are:

The ones at the top are definitely Gotham, a "hot font" this year and it's popular because it carries no emotional baggage and doesn't remind people of anything in the past. A lighter weight is used for "BARACK HAS CHOSEN" and a heavier weight is used for "JOE BIDEN."

As for the font that "OBAMA" is in, I believe it is either a font called "Visage" or just about any semi-bold Garamond font. A weight between Garamond and Garamond Bold. They carefully set the tracking to make the letters a little further apart than they normally would if you had merely typed it in as is. Also, they made the O slightly larger in size and shifted it down slightly. The bottom of the O goes slightly below the baseline of the other letters.

[Pryderi]

13. They also slightly modified the "D" in "Biden" so it's not as wide.

[mcctatas]

12. So earlier tonight I was talking to my mom on the phone

she informed me that I am a dork because I watch c-span all the time and hang out on political message boards. In the midst of my defense of my leisure time activities, I happened to click on this thread. I was reading the replies etc. to her, but I didn't catch her reply because she was laughing to hard, the only thing I heard was "not a dork my ass"

:evilgrin:

[Pryderi]

14. Branding Obama: The Design Firm Behind the Logo

Sender, LLC created the Obama mark, the first time a mark that can truly stand alone has been used in a campaign for president.

There's a video presentation:
http://www.henzeldesign.com/wordpress/?p=203v

The video says it's the perpetua font, but the "m" isn't perpetua.

[NJmaverick]

16. I think it's a great logo

I can't seem to recall another candidate with a logo though. Interesting idea.

[MadrasT]

15. Requiem Text Roman

is the serif font used for the names.

Edit: at least it's close. :shrug: