Given that this is political convention season, the Democratic and Republican Party convention logos provoked me to ask people what they thought about them. Most people liked the DNC logo. It does the trick to show the Rocky Mountains. Does anyone think that the “8″ in the DNC logo look upside down? The zero overpowers the “8″. Nice stars and mountains. Can someone tell me what the three white stripes represent? I asked a bunch of people and dug around on-line and did not get find an answer. So if someone knows, reach out and share.

The font is OK but that “08″ still bugs me. I swear that “8″ is upside down! The test of a good convention logo is how well does it translate onto a button, hat and t-shirt? It does. Take away the white stripes, the text and drop in some numbers and you have a very effective layout for a state license plate that would look great on an old 1977 Chevy van.

The RNC’s logo is very disappointing. How tough is it to come up with something that compliments
either the host city or the G.O.P.? This logo flatters neither. This is the first time that Minneapolis – St. Paul is hosting a major political national convention. This doesn’t happen very often. It may not happen again. What’s up with those three white stripes again? Now I really need to know. Why would they use something the DNC used on their logo? Did the DNC rip it off from the RNC? Please let me know. I do like the star on the elephant’s eye. Obviously a tribute to KISS and Paul Stanley! If they would have gone back to the Motor City for the G.O.P. convention, they could have used “Detroit Rock City” as the theme song and have John McCain spitting up blood to complete the homage to KISS.

When I saw it my first impression was “Is That All There Is?”
I would have thought that the G.O.P. would have wanted to try and out-do the Democrats. Some of the previous RNC logos have been pretty good. This one looks under developed and not taken along further.

Did they run out of time? They’ve had four years to get ready? Is the white background supposed to represent Minneapolis in the dead of winter? An elephant’s tail doesn’t come out of it’s back. Where did they get this graphic? CorelDraw? This would be a good logo for a t-shirt label or as a mail indicia. Not much else. Was money an issue? I know a lot of really affordable designers. Minneapolis – Saint Paul and the G.O.P. deserve much better than this.

JOEL KIRSTEIN is a Creative Director and has been in the Ad Agency trenches for 25 years and has been watching the conventions for 40 years and noticed that they don’t use as many balloons as they used to!

Article Tags: Democratic and Republican Party convention logos | effective layout | How tough is it to come up with something that is complimentary to either the host city or the G.O.P.? | Identity | Is That All There Is? | logo | The test of a good convention logo is how well does it translate onto a button?
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