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<\/div>Good design is increasingly helping to fuel underdog candidates.\u00a0As design leader and author Steven Heller said<\/a> on Twitter:<\/p>\n Design is personality. When used well in election campaigns branding it says more than a candidates name. Color, type, and image contribute to the perception of that name, sometimes the person, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Let’s take a closer look at political branding examples and how design has helped candidates succeed in recent elections.<\/p>\n Look no further than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign for a recent example of how design effectively expressed a candidate’s personality and paved the way toward a win.<\/p>\n Just 28 years old, newcomer Ocasio-Cortez boldly ran against Joe Crowley, a heavily favored incumbent for the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District.<\/p>\n In its coverage of the campaign, Vox.com<\/a> pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez’s brand played a significant role in securing her the win:<\/p>\n While she\u2019s a vocal candidate with progressive ideals, she has an equally communicative, but silent, tool at her side: her visual brand. On the streets of New York\u2019s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of eastern Bronx and northern Queens, you might spot vibrant yellow campaign posters printed with a portrait of Ocasio-Cortez with her last name bookended by Spanish exclamation points, and calls to action in bold type, set at an attention-grabbing angle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ocasio-Cortez ran as an outsider, and the design and branding of her election campaign reflected this. You can see this in her visually bold poster design<\/a> above. Her opponent’s campaign’s design was rooted in the traditional (with the colors<\/a> red, white, and blue used prominently).<\/p>\n When compared to the centrist, comparatively safe designs of Crowley\u2019s traditionally styled posters, Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s campaign materials stood out.\u00a0Ocasio-Cortez’s used purple, yellow, and other bold choices to visually differentiate her campaign from her opponent.<\/p>\n Her political branding strategy was to sound different and to look different.\u00a0It\u2019s no surprise that Ocasio-Cortez created a compelling argument for shifting toward a revolution – in design and in politics itself.<\/p>\n Lindsay Ballant, an adjunct faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art, attributes<\/a> the success of Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s branding to her\u00a0\u201cfearlessness in taking on a comfy establishment figure.\u201d<\/p>\n Ballant explains that by doubling down on her persona in her election branding, Ocasio-Cortez clearly emphasizes her strength as a lawmaker and as a non-traditional, radical candidate.<\/p>\n Ocasio-Cortez tapped\u00a0Tandem Design NYC\u00a0to create the design for her campaign. Tandem took inspiration from past grassroots campaigns and movements by labor and civil rights activists to create the striking brand.<\/p>\n Tandem’s lead designer Maria Arenas explained some of the motivation behind the design to Fast Company<\/a>:<\/p>\n She is a non-traditional candidate running a non-traditional campaign, and we wanted her visual identity to reflect that, to be true to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The colorful and engaging visual style of Ocasio-Cortez\u2019 campaign materials defiantly stepped outside of the stale boundaries established by the establishment.<\/p>\n What lessons can political brand strategists, marketers, and politicians learn from the role design played in Ocasio-Cortez’s success?<\/p>\n First, the power of a single visual or brand element cannot be underestimated in political candidate branding and political brand management.<\/p>\n Take, for example, Obama’s 2008 \u201cHope\u201d campaign. Whatever your political leaning, it’s hard to dismiss the power of the message Obama’s \u201cHope\u201d logo had in swaying voters.<\/p>\n There were many other elements to Obama’s election campaign design, but that single word and logo design<\/a>, and the consistent use of the branding throughout the national election helped strengthen his message.<\/p>\n But not all logos created for political candidate branding were as immediately successful as these, however.<\/p>\n The logo for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was greeted with much derision and ridicule<\/a> when it was first released. The logo was very simple: a blue H with the cross-bar turned into a red arrow that pointed to the right.<\/p>\n Many of the complaints centered around the idea that it was too<\/i>\u00a0simple. So simple, a child could have designed it.<\/p>\n I don't mean to brag but it was actually my 4 year old who designed the Hillary logo for #Hillary2016<\/a> #HillaryClinton<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/xKbQyx52SQ<\/a><\/p>\n — tomgreever (@tomgreever) April 13, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nHow good design helped \u00a1Ocasio! win her election<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe power of a word and a logo in political branding<\/h2>\n
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