media politics region north america visual art vote 2008

Campaign fonts: Optima and Gotham reveal the candidates’ "character issues"

By John Hockenberry, Adaora Udoji, Noel King

Thursday, September 25 2008

McCain is Optima. Obama is Gotham. We know what the candidates’ slogans say about their campaigns but what do their fonts mean? From POW to GQ, there may be more to design and typefaces than you’d think.

Guest: Emily Oberman, Partner and co-founder of design studio NUMBER 17
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
The Mix Add Your Comment
Fonts? You have to be kidding me. Please do us all a favor, end this foolishness, send John and Adaora back to TV and bring back Bob Edwards.

Posted by Lee Thornton, 8:20 a.m. Thursday, September 25 2008 Permalink

Reply
Actually, I enjoyed this story a lot. On the Media ran a lengthier segment on this topic a few months back that was really fascinating. Hey, campaigning is advertising. Who can doubt that a lot of thought goes into logos? It's only logical to go to the next step, as in, what do different fonts say about the candidates, and how do customers (whoops, voters) react? I do have my complaints about this show (apparently, "fast paced and edgy" translates into, bring an interesting person on and cut them off after 90 seconds), but I can't fault them for bringing up this topic.

Posted by Mme_Libn, 11:25 p.m. Friday, September 26 2008 Permalink

Reply
The guest was dead wrong about Optima. It's an elegant font, it's the bold version that John McCain uses (and which Hermann Zapf was probably compelled to create for the foundy) which is a lumbering, bumbler-of-a-font.

Posted by Joel Mielke, 5:13 p.m. Saturday, September 27 2008 Permalink

Reply

  • By leaving a comment you have read and accept the Terms and Conditions.

Recent Programs

  1. StreamListen   Tuesday December 02   More »
  2. StreamListen   Monday December 01   More »
  3. StreamListen   Friday November 28   More »
  4. StreamListen | Download   Thursday November 27   More »
  5. StreamListen | Download   Wednesday November 26   More »

Audio For September 25, 2008

  1. ListenListen to all segments
  2. ListenListen | Download  Entire Show In One File   

Web Resources

Past shows

September 2008
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930    

The Most

  1. Mumbai: sifting facts from rumors (11/28/2008)
  2. Lethal autonomous systems: The ethics of programming robots for war (11/25/2008)
  3. Language abuse: "Damp Squid" and your most irritating words and phrases (11/25/2008)
  4. What if economists ran the White House? (12/02/2008)
  5. Why low sales numbers on Black Friday might actually be a good thing (11/28/2008)
  6. For veterans, virtual reality treatment addresses very real trauma (11/26/2008)
  7. Reaping the health benefits of gratitude with the science of thankfulness (11/27/2008)
  8. Travel woes continue in Bangkok as protesters declare victory (12/02/2008)
  9. Pardon the turkey... and Scooter Libby, too? (11/27/2008)
  10. Mornings need a make over. What would you change? (04/26/2008)
 

Liberty Mutual