And so here we are: five days to go until Election Day, with nothing but two relatively boring campaign logos to sustain us. Over 12 years this is the latest I’ve ever published my general election assessment of the two campaigns’ logos, mainly because I couldn’t bear to think about them until I was almost literally out of time. Well, no matter. Enjoy this report card, for what it’s worth. And oh yes, please feel free to check out any of the links below for a trip through our nation’s recent electoral history in bumper sticker form.
As always, let’s look at the candidates’ campaign logos in decreasing order of quality and competence:
Biden/Harris 2020
I gave Joe Biden’s logo reasonably high marks during the primary season not just for its clever rendition of the letter E as three red stripes reminiscent of the American flag, but for the versatility of a design that carved the stripes into an arc that was equally at home next to the O in “JOE” as to the E in “BIDEN.” It wasn’t the best logo I’d ever seen, but I figured it was worth a solid B-minus.
I can’t be as kind to the general election version. Part of what made the primary logo charming was its geometric precision: notice how the bowls of the B and D are nearly half-circles, giving the logo a pleasingly rounded appearance. By contrast, the general election logo feels unnaturally elongated. While this logo is full of things not to love, such as the sawed-off N with none of the character of the N from the primary logo, the B and D are particularly offensive to me: they feel artificially stretched, as if they were unwilling participants in a not-very-well-thought-out effort to squeeze “HARRIS” into a logo that doesn’t want it. It’s really not that difficult to make the vice president’s name smaller, you know. Ask Donald Trump for tips if you need them. Grade: C
Trump/Pence 2020
So Donald Trump’s logo is literally exactly the same logo he used in 2016 with the exception of the year. He didn’t even bother to change the “Make America Great Again” slogan to reflect the fact that he’s already had four years to make America great again, which as far as I’m concerned means he’s acknowledging he’s failed at the job. I’m going to apply the Bernie Sanders rule here: if you can’t be bothered to change your logo from four years ago then I can’t be bothered to say anything new about it, plus you get a half grade off for lack of originality. Grade: D
So that’s it, then. If you were expecting more, I’m sorry. Blame the candidates.