Tuesday, March 17th at 03:30 PM
Presenters:
John Slabyk – Obama for America
Scott Thomas – Obama – SimpleScott
Alissa Walker – Gelatobaby
The Designing Change in America panel will discuss the Obama “brand”, it’s birth, it’s evolution, and it’s rise to power. We will discuss the challenges of being in-house designers in a fast-paced political environment and how though challenges informed our process for designing and developing.
State of design for Obama Campaign. Got the gig because they were the first to respond. Many ideas and designs were done more on a question of speed vs. design elements. They just needed to get it to print.
Banners used all the tricks in the book to make it pop on camera (drop-shadows edges etc).
Website used every shade of blue possible and WAY too many typefaces.
John and Scott got introduced to the campaign with a cross between Web/Print and do both sides. There was simply no time for traditional design (not market research or usability). They built an airplane while in flight. The timeline wasn’t strongly considered when working on something that big. They put together and got out flyers every single day. You couldn’t look down the road too far. You were stuck in the middle doing the NOW stuff. They had to show through the website that design is important, and prove themselves.
We need to deliver clear concise messaging focused on the “we” rather than the “he.”
Keep message of hope while dismantling the notion of being aloof. There were crazy long titles for certain events, that ultimately go changed by time right in the field. They had to get to the core of what the function would be. It was hard to make Obama not feel aloof. Hope could be communicated visually without actually using the word “hope.”
Communicate the historic atmosphere by pulling from the imagery of the past. They tried hard to pull historical images or documents and base design off of that. Pull feelings and emotions out of those images. How could these things be used down the road. They’ve created print versions of speeches that are a piece of history – a historic document.
Establish a consistency and balance to exemplify stability and experience. Lock type up in a consistent manner, use simple consistent color palettes, and make sure that stays solid in everything.
A logo was handed off, and there was no brand standards. They noticed that there were things missing in the word mark. The typography didn’t match the logo itself. There wasn’t a solid block. They went about changing it – all caps – adjusted the ends – balanced. It needed to be adjusted to tie it to the rest of the brand. Perfect circle on the “O” rounded the serifs.
The notion of participation was very important to the campaign. They wanted to make sure that it was a 2 way conversation and could download design aspects and being transparent. It’s weird how the election cycle is kind of the olympics of technology as far as what’s possible (watching video on the internet of speeches)
What to do with the homepage – everyone needed/wanted to be on the homepage – how was that dealt with? The fold was destroyed, and it scrolled for content. Ver. 2 highlighted the personal my.barackobama.com. In the initial stage of the campaign, it was happening live! There was no test server.
Vote for Change – make voter registration easy. It has never been done before since it is so varied over the country. Eliminate the questions and complexities. One question at a time, one by one.
Did you know anything about Barack Obama, and when was your first contact?
A speech four years ago energized John. Was the country ready for this guy? How much do I believe in this? Is it worth the crazy work and less money?
Scott was talking with his mother the night before being asked to give up a year in a half of life. Called, responded, interview the next day, started the next day.
There was never a break – there was meeting all the time. You could get a request at midnight for a graphic needed the next morning. It was a crazy work environment.
When did you realize that the designs were getting great attention?
Change you can believe in banner – typeface author blogged about the use of their font (uh… maybe we should pay for it).
When events were going on, there was no ability to proof something. The political schedule doesn’t allow for time to prepare. It would hit and go live. It was nice to see how things showed up on TV or on a newspaper. It was like real-life proofing since going live was the proof. If it isn’t perfect, get it out there, you can change it if it doesn’t work.
What was the role in change.gov and whitehouse.gov?
Change.gov moved to DC with a couple of designers – what about whitehouse.gov? They did to a small roll in getting it rolling, but they didn’t do the entire thing. Change.gov was a quick thought initially since there were more important things to do.
It is still important as things transition and move into the actual presidency, that the grassroots pieces that made the campaign work, and the web tools and design tools used still need to be part of the process. There is still always room for improvement.
Prove what you can do… it is always going to be better with good design. The bad design happens because of the situation you’re in. Maybe a speech is happening in a town with a small print shop and a local designer. That’s how some of the inconsistent things get out. Getting a handle on this and keeping things consistent top to bottom is important.
Questions:
- How much of a battle was it to communicate the need for whitespace on your site, and the above the fold mentality?
-It was a battle, and everyone needs to fight it. It helped that things were moving so fast, it might get ignored – or it’s easier to ignore. Always asked, “Are we communicating efficiently?” What is the solution? What is the best way to do this? It’s not a question about whites pace, but rather a question of what is the best way to communicate? Respect the people you work with and include them in the decision making. - There was a tremendous distance between the global branding and the materials on the ground, were you aware of that?
-Yes, absolutely! In many cases, it could have just fallen to the local office for fliers or materials. Hopefully in the future, there is more of a “how to” kind of thing for local product design.
Podcast of Panel (mp3)
