Barack Obama's designed presidency

March 4, 10:00 AMDesign Trends ExaminerNeal Shaffer

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The community started buzzing late yesterday with some of the biggest design-related news to come along in some time: Barack Obama's unveiling of new logos for the stimulus effort. Designed by Mode with help from Aaron Draplin (one of my all-time favorites) and Chris Glass (also awesome), these logos represent arguably the best, smartest graphic work "the government" has ever produced. At least since the Depression.

Armin from from Brand New has a full look, complete with typeface geekery.

What impresses me the most is just how much the Obama team "gets it" when it comes to the role of good design in everyday life. When they issue a press release that calls the logo “a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American people to invest their tax dollars wisely to put Americans back to work," they're providing evidence of sophisticated, modern thinking the likes of which we've never seen before from government. It's only a couple of logos, sure, but if implemented properly they can serve as touchstones that bind our effort together and symbolize hope, recovery, and optimism.

That, or they can get a bunch of design nerds talking before they fade away completely. The economy's going to have a lot to do with that, I think.

Nice work either way.