Charles Apple

The New York Times once again waxed poetic Tuesday about the typography and graphic design we’re seeing in the presidential campaign.

Today’s topic: Sen. Barack Obama’s use of the typeface Gotham. Today’s expert supplying  the A’s to the NYT’s Q’s: Brian Collins, former chairman of Ogilvy & Mather’s Brand Innovation Group and now owner of his own branding firm, named — now get ready for this — Collins.

The Times‘ Steven Heller writes:

Q: What is it about the typeface Gotham that adds personality to the Obama brand?

A: I don’t think that Gotham adds any personality to Senator Obama’s brand. I think it just amplifies the personality that’s already there. In fact, the typeface would work just as well for John McCain or Hillary Clinton, for that matter.

The opening page from Sen. Obama’s web site.
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With that said, though, there’s an oxymoronic quality to Gotham, which is why I think it’s become so popular. It has a blunt, geometric simplicity, which usually makes words feel cold and analytical (like Univers), but it also feels warm. It’s substantial yet friendly. Up-to-date yet familiar. That’s a tough hat trick.

And Gotham has another quality that makes it succeed: it just looks matter-of-fact. But perhaps any typeface inspired by signs at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City — as Gotham is — will look like that.

Three font samples the NYT used
with the story. From top to bottom:
Comic Sans, Times Roman and Gotham.
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Q: Could this have been accomplished with other typeface(s)?

A: Yes. But most of them have been crafted within the last decade or so. Newer fonts don’t carry as much historical visual baggage for candidates looking to the future instead of the past. Among them would be a typeface called Whitney.

Interestingly, Obama’s use of Gotham came up in the comments of a post here last week about the Dallas Morning News’ new section headers:

Reader Darla Cameron commented:

I saw somewhere that Gotham is the font the Barack Obama campaign uses for posters, etc. Not that anyone but a type dork would know that.

DMN presentation director Rob Schneider responded:

It’s really funny you mention that, because we decided to use Gotham about 15 months ago (we’ve been using it partially since 2004), and then in December I realized it is the exact same font! Obama’s people are smart to use the uncondensed version of Gotham. The regular Gotham is beautiful rounded.

I actually mentioned it to my bosses, because one of chief complaints we get is for being “too liberal”. I think people understand we aren’t making a political statement though (I hope.).

There’s a lot more in the Wedneday Times story. Read it for yourself here.

Thanks to my good friend Ji Qi of the Associated Press for the tip.

In addition, the SND/Update blog points out today that Newsweek also published an amusing column this week about this very topic. Find it here.

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Commentary:

I can’t see the name “Gotham” without thinking of Bruce Wayne and Police Commissioner Gordon. Does that make me an even bigger geek than my friends who are font fanatics?

Sigh…

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Amusing stuff, Elections, News design, Redesigns, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.