Having studied politics and now working in politics professionally, I am always interested in how the two seemingly unrelated fields intersect. As our President is inaugurated for a second term, I decided to take a look back at the Obama campaign logo. The blue "o" featuring three red stripes is often regarded as one of the most successful political logos of this design era. In a 2008 interview by VSA Partners, Inc., Sol Sender, who spearheaded the logo development for the 2008 campaign, discusses the design process.

The video description from the interview:

"Creative director Sol Sender tells the story of conception and birth of the Obama 08 logo, including the strategy behind it, developmental concepts and finalist designs for the identity not chosen by the campaign. Sender, now a strategist with design agency VSA Partners (http://www.vsapartners.com) in Chicago, was creative director and principal of his own design firm, Sender LLC, when he was hired to create the campaign logo. In the fall of 2006, Sender and his team were engaged to do the work by MODE, a Chicago-based motion design studio with an existing relationship with David Axelrod, the Obama campaigns chief strategist. Obama 08 campaign took on design responsibility for the logo in mid-2007, and extended the identity across multiple applications."

Designing Obama

The Design Director of the Obama campaign, Scott Thomas, has collaborated with artists and designers to create Designing Obama, a chronicle of the art from the historic campaign. The hard copy of the book is currently sold out, but is available for $4.99 for the iPad. You can also read a digital copy of the book on the  Designing Obama website.