Kate Murphy reported the following in the NY Times recently..."During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama's choice of Gotham - an elegant 21st-century font - for his campaign signage was praised by graphic designers for its modernity and implicit message of change. Critics derided John McCain's font, Optima, which was developed in the 1950's, and recalled the printing on a remedy for gastric distress.
But this year, Democratic and Republican candidates alike have largely forsaken modish fonts like Gotham, choosing instead fonts that looked like they were banged out on a vintage typewriter or carved into an ancient temple.
'Because Obama's presidency seems to many to not have lived up to its promise of a different, progressive way of doing things, people have perhaps pulled away from his font,' said Robert Arnow, a font designer in San Francisco."
Now, I am not involved in politics. I am not a declared republican or democrat, and prefer to keep it that way. So the choice of font for political campaigns, I must confess, is something that I have not paid any attention to. But this article reminded me how much small details matter, or are at least perceived to matter.
I was listening to NPR the other day and they were having a great debate over how much political ads change the popular vote. The consensus seemed to be that no matter how much you spent, 1-2 percent would be the most you could hope to change the outcome in a particular race. So they were decrying the value of such campaigns.
1-2 percent? How much has been spent on direct mail advertising that has always promised less than a 1 percent return? How much would the average business like to up its business that much in a down economy? I know we would here at Peripetee!
So as for me and my house, we are going to redouble our efforts to pay attention to the small details...and then gleefully and expectantly look forward to any increase in our business in the near future!
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