pil·crow A symbol or character... formerly used to mark the commencement of a new section or part of a narrative or discourse; now, sometimes introducing an editorial obiter dictum or protest, and sometimes as a reference to a marginal note or foot-note. (OED 2nd Ed., 1989)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The political type
UPDATE: The other campaign banners I saw must have been John Edwards'. Thanks to Lars Modest for the pointer.
The folks at Helvetica: A Documentary Film have posted a clip about the development of the Gotham typeface. You will recognize it as the face on the Barack Obama "Change We Can Believe In" banners. Obama's use of Gotham is not news, but the clip is interesting, especially because Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones are two of the most exciting type designers alive.
Now, I remember seeing some pictures of McCain campaign banners, that also seemed to be in Gotham, but I can't find them now. Shall better googlers than I venture forth for them?
On behalf of all faculty, staff and students in the McGill University community, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum has expressed her deepest sorrow and concern at the tragic news of the deadly shootings at Northern Illinois University on February 14.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by this utterly senseless act of violence,” said Prof. Munroe-Blum. “We have seen these pictures far too many times. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the innocent victims of this brutal event. All of us who are part of a university or a college feel their pain and their loss acutely. We like to believe our campuses are places not only of rich intellectual discovery, but of safety and refuge. Sadly, it has been shown to us again that this is not always the case. We offer sympathy to those whose lives have been shattered by this violence and hope fervently for the speedy recovery of those who were injured.”
The University of Chicago's superlatively underwhelming home page is about to get a thorough makeover. I can't wait. From the looks of it, the style will be similar to the current Law School page, but more horizontally oriented.
I never wondered who designed the Chicago page because, well, it doesn't seem designed at all. Compare that to Pentagram's work for Brown, or the old Yale website, since replaced by a similar, if slightly more conventional in-house job.
¶ I remember knowing who'd done the old Yale design a few years back. In 1999 it was pretty revolutionary. But as much as I googled, I couldn't find the name of the firm.
Looking at the NYT's Democratic results map, I noticed that ole' Tompkins is the only county in New York state to have gone for Obama. That New York would be solidly in Hillary's column doesn't surprise. But neither does the Tompkins exception. After all, it's been the only Democratic bastion in upstate New York for god knows how long, and Ithaca had an officially Democratic Socialist major for a good long time. Combine that with a school with a celebrated (though lately overrated) activist tradition. Why other collegetowns didn't swing Obama's way is inteesting, but perhaps Cornell is just disproportionately dominant there.
How often do you feel the urge to sin a Journey song to your own blog?
¶ ...
That's what I thought. In any case, I decided to look around these parts, click on a few blogroll links, blow the dust off the sidebars and, whaddaya know? Blogstreet has moved to India. It's not outsourcing, it's an outright buyout. The logo is pretty much the same, but now they only list blogs about India or by Indian authors.
There's no point to this, really. I just found it interesting.
I have begun a long and arduous labeling process. And then I've given up on the "long and arduous" part and just decided to labels the most recent posts.
The thread goes on and on about how the video is schmaltzy and won't change people's minds, and I have to agree, for the most part. I doubt that a hard-core Hillary supporter would switch sides over celebrity endorsements. If that is the intention of the producer of the video, then they are a bit deceived.
An election advertisement, however, is only partly about changing minds. It's also about firing-up the troops, getting indifferent voters to go to the polls, and creating a general zeitgeist for the candidate. The video succeeds splendidly in this way. One commenter said that "[t]he video shows that there is music in Obama’s words". Another noted that, in the midst of campaigns built on fear and jingoism, "the schmaltz is very much part of its appeal."
"Movement music" is hardly subtle, and rarely presents new (or even good) arguments. It aims at a more basic center that wants emotional reinforcement of one's convictions. Play this video at an Obama rally and you'll see the young volunteers hugging and holding back tears, echoing the slogan, ready to give their all for the rest of the campaign. Play it to a marginally interested adolescent, generally drawn to Obama's image but unconvinced of what to do about it, and she'll be likely to volunteer a few hours, or days, to the cause. Play it on the news, even if only for a few seconds, and it will give the impression of a broad, hip movement.
And the choice of stars doesn't alienate anyone. CSI Miami? Gray's Anatomy? They're not parading West Wing veterans in front of the camera. Many grandparents won't know who these people are, many parents will recognize folks from popular and inocuous shows, the kids will see folks whose politics they know and probably share. These are people who haven't been outrageously "political" (no Streissand, Robbins, or Sarandon). The alienation factor is very low (with the possible exception of a mostly gratuitous—though not unwelcome—Johanssen, but only because she doesn't seem to do anything in the piece).
¶ Hell, I want to cross the border and go canvassing.
Well, a rollin' campaign gives you a damn good feeling, probably more so for the young folks going door-to-door than for the candidates or the high-ranking staffers. The video captures these high spirits, and targets them at an already well-disposed demographic. I suspect it is more a tool of retention and renewal than of actual vote-getting. And I suspect that, as such, it will be successful.
