The graphic design of the Obama campaign has just been sick…always on target, great looking, incredibly easy to get the message, and even hip when it needed to be. Add to that all the unofficial campaign artwork and the visuals succeeded in carrying politics into counter culture and back again. Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama posters contributed greatly to that movement.

Although I’m very happy the election is finally over and the transition to a change in government has officially begun, I have to admit that from the perspective of a graphic designer, I will miss seeing Obama’s consistent campaign continue to unfold, evolve and inspire.

Apparently MoveOn.org realized that many people might feel the way I do. Shepard Fairey designed a follow-up poster to his original HOPE/CHANGE/PROGRESS versions that encapsulate both the win and the message. Looking  modern and classic all at once, Shepard Fairey’s poster inspired the Obama masses to get out their wallets one more time.

There were a total of 5000 posters printed and hand numbered. Some undisclosed percentage of those numbered posters were also signed. MoveOn members could buy the basic unsigned poster for $90 ($80 plus shipping), or they could upgrade by adding Shepard Fairey’s signature for another $420 ($500 total plus shipping). I had decided I would just by the $80 version and then carry it around with me until I somehow ran into Shepard Fairey myself, thrusting the poster in his face and asking him for his autograph.

Unfortunately, the posters all sold out (signed and unsigned) before I got a chance to get to my computer. I guess I’ll just have to wait til Obama gets his puppy and Fairey does an iconic portrait of it. I hope it’s a pitbull with lipstick.

Obama Wins 2008

With all the talk of Red and Blue States some might imagine US citizens are born dipped in one or the other color… but looking back you can see that the pendulum of democracy has no permanent palette.

Nixon Wins 1972

Every dog has his day/color…

FDR Wins 1936

Roses are red and violets are blue but the US can’t decide between the two… If you want to see more or hear a great catalogue of speeches or read a sea of documents visit : The American Presidency Project

image from jeffdomke.com

Most people are probably familiar with Dingbats or Wingdings, but have you heard of ObamaBats? Jeff Domke created the set of Obama characters from web photos After a little bit of designer magic TADA there’s a new set of “…Bats”.

Check out Jeff’s Website or Download the free “ObamaBats”.

Yes, for once, NC is getting some major attention in a national election campaign, and being described as a battleground state! Not only are Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin all regularly visiting us, but we’ve got famous people entertaining us where the only price for admission is listening to a li’l plug for a candidate.

Today, James Taylor played a free concert in Moore Square in downtown Raleigh. It was a beautiful day and a perfect mid-day lunch excursion. And despite the minimal advertising and notice given, he played his music and his “Vote Obama” message to a full crowd.

Thanks, Dan, for the pix!

In the USA there are five hundred and thirty eight electoral votes that decide an election. This led to an intriguing website founded by Nate Silver: fivethirtyeight.com

Nate is a baseball statistician who decided to apply his craft to politics:
“What we do over there and what I’m doing over here are really quite similar. Both baseball and politics are data-driven industries. But a lot of the time, that data might be used badly. In baseball, that may mean looking at a statistic like batting average when things like on-base percentage and slugging percentage are far more correlated with winning ballgames. In politics, that might mean cherry-picking a certain polling result or weaving together a narrative that isn’t supported by the demographic evidence.”

Poll Tracker

As a result fivethirtyeight weights each poll in accuracy and over time to predict the most likely scenarios. It’s a number cruncher’s dream, including this chart in which 10,000 scenarios are run:

Probability distribution of 10,000 election scenarios

Closer to home it is interesting to see how fivethirtyeight evaluates projections in our beloved North Carolina: he doesn’t track voter numbers, just probability of how NC will vote. It really does look like a baseball scorecard!

NC projections

Just imagine what would happen if just HALF of the army of statisticians and fact checkers involved in one NFL game were pulled over for a political debate!