Graphic Designers Gave Us 30 Reasons To Elect Obama & Hundreds More

Above: by Adam Snetman, New York

I know you've all seen the Shepard Fairey poster for Obama:

Above: Shepard Fairey's popular Obama Poster

But he certainly wasn't the only one who designed a beautiful poster in support of Barack Obama. Nor the best poster. Tons of graphic artists, illustrators, painters, typographers and more have done so, just take a glance below:





However, I'm singling out "30 reasons" in this post because I liked the use of their 'email' campaign as a way of communicating the support for Obama. And their artwork was more communicating the 'reason' to vote for the Democratic candidate rather than just a poster of him.


30 Reasons was a 30-day email and internet campaign to encourage people to vote for Barack Obama. Their goal was simple: Use design to build a logical, multi-faceted argument for Obama and make it easy to share each reason with another person.



They enlisted 30 graphic designers to create posters that represented a reason to vote for Obama. Starting on the October 5th, they posted a new poster online each day and emailed it to those signed up on their list. Recipients could easily share the email with other supporters and friends who were undecided.

Here are a few of them:

Above: by John Klotnia, New York

Above: by Scott Thares, Minnesota

Above: by Milton Glaser, New York

Above: by Julia Zimmerman, New York

Above: by Chris Thomas, New York

Above: by Chaz Maviyane, Massachusetts

Above: by Matt Dorfman, New York

Above: by Luba Lukova, New York

30 Reasons featured posters designed by these designers:
Andrio Abero, Elizabeth Amorose
Jesse Arneson, Seymour Chwast
Frank Chimero, Andrew Degraff
Neil Donnelly, Matt Dorfman
Megan Forb, Milton Glaser
Dan Ibarra, Melissa Jun
Jason Kenevich, John Klotnia
Andrew Lewis , Luba Lukova
Chaz Maviyane-Davies, Lenny Naar
Woody Pirtle, Adam Snetman
Scott Stowell, Michael Strassburger
Dustin Summers, Scott Thares
Chris Thomas, Brett Traylor
Rick Valicenti, Ryan Waller
Larkin Werner , JP Williams
Brett Yasko, Julia Zimmerman

Curated by Julia Zimmerman, Chris Thomas, and Jesse Arneson. Go look at all 30 of them. They are all worth seeing and available to download as pdfs here.

Like to see Obama posters? well, the you MUST check out Design/ers for Obama, where all the amazing work on here is visible as well as links to various sites with artwork for Obama.



Design/ers for Obama was created when Design Observer essentially asked the question, “how can graphic designers best support Barack Obama?” The answer ended up extending the question to cover visual communicators at all levels. In addition to supporting Obama for America they jumped at the opportunity to bring the spirit of grassroots style organizing and collaboration to poster design which, to them, meant not only forming communal bonds but sharing the fruits of their efforts equally and in such a way that anyone can enjoy and benefit from (because most of us do not own our own printing presses).

Design for Obama was created by Aaron Perry-Zucker, a senior studying graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design, and was built by Adam Meyer, a senior studying industrial design at said school. The site was inspired and is supported by Design Observer.

Design/ers for Obama

30 reasons

Botanist Designer Series: Benches That Give Back

Eight icons of design have joined forces with Orange22 Design Lab to launch the firm’s Blank Canvas Project. Super high-profile designers, including Yves Behar, Karim Rashid, Milton Glaser and Massimo Vignelli, have created new editions of Orange22’s indoor-outdoor, eco-friendly Botanist furniture.



Above: original Botanist Benches

Orange22’s original Botanist line features intricate surface patterns cut with water-jet technology. Each sleek, metal form begins its life as a Blank Canvas.


Above: the "Blank Canvas"

“We designed the structures to be strong and versatile enough to sustain any pattern we could imagine,” says Orange 22 founder Dario Antonioni. “Now, the industry’s most celebrated designers will do the dreaming. Consumers are embracing design more and more each year and now with the Blank Canvas program they purchase furniture products with the knowledge that they too will be making a difference.”

2008 Blank Canvas Participants:


Botanist matches each designers royalty to a foundation or charity of their choice. Pictured below is each bench and the designer's choice of charity.

Yves Behar - Fuse Project, San Francisco:



Margo Chase - Chase Design Group, Los Angeles:



Milton Glaser - Milton Glaser, Inc., New York:




Kahi Lee - Kahi Lee Lifestyle, Los Angeles:



Karim Rashid - Karim Rashid, Inc., New York:



Joe Ricchio - Ricchio Design, Seal Beach:



Massimo & Lella Vignelli - Vignelli Associates, New York:



Claude Zellweger - One & Co, San Francisco:



The Designer Signing and Silent Auction of the above benches was held in NYC on May 18th, 2008. But unsigned versions are for sale in various sizes where Botanist benches are sold (google them).


About Orange 22:
Founded by Dario Antonioni in 2000, the Los Angeles based design lab creates and fabricates mass-market and limited-edition objects and furniture, brand-defining retail environments, residential interiors and design concepts licensed for mass production. The studio furniture has exhibited at the most prestigious international design shows in New York, Paris, Cologne and Milan.

Orange22
125 West 4th St. #102
Los Angeles CA 90013

The Botanist Designer Series site.