As election season heats up in Louisiana, candidate signs and logos come out in force. Sprinkled along highways, posted in front yards and slapped on car bumpers throughout the state, political signs with candidates’ names plastered across seem to become part of the landscape here.
While some logos follow traditional designs seen in elections past, others display new creative concepts. But what exactly makes a political logo effective? What colors, fonts and icons create a winning candidate’s brand?
To shed some light on the topic, Business Report recently sat down with five graphic designers in the Capital City who weighed in on the logos of candidates running for statewide office in this year’s election.
While the judges were impressed with some candidates’ logos, they were also candid about those they don’t like.
“The ’90s called, and they want their swoop back,” says Chuck Sanchez, principal/creative director at STUN Design & Interactive, of U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s logo. “I think anyone can look at this and say this is not a good logo. He’s running for governor, not president—I get it. But getting the silver package for $19.99 at logosplash.com should have been shot down at the communications meeting.”
Other graphic designers who offered up their comments on candidate logos are Kelly Cohagan, creative director at Vivid Ink Graphics; Venessa Lewis, owner of Lewis Graphic Design and adjunct instructor of visual communication at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication; Natasha Walker, interactive designer at Gatorworks Web design firm; and Jeremy Beyt, CEO and co-founder of Hatchit Web and branding agency.
See all of the logos and read what they have to say about them.
