In logo Mode.

Flipping through the reader yesterday for stuff and came across a story about Obama’s new logo. “...American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the second for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery...” and so on. As someone noted, the purpose here wasn’t to show how we can spend tax dollars on money, rather, President Obama’s use of branding. If people at least see a stamp on something they paid for, they'll at least feel like they’ve done something with the stimulus loan money. Which in turn leads to more confidence. Old SPICE confidence, mister.

Then I caught this part “...led designers Aaron Draplin and Chris Glass in the assignment....”

I don’t know Chris, or Mode Project who ran things, but I do know Aaron from having met him on last year’s subtle plug for latest tour coming up Plaidnation.com tour. As a designer, if you haven’t checked out his blog, go now Agent Starling. Seek out design truth. (Check out Chris too, definitely worth the visit.)

I thought it was cool that instead of me profiling another high-profile agency/designer who got millions for redoing mass market consumer goods Olympic logo packaging, I can instead give props to someone who absolutely appreciates the art of graphic design and the influence it’s had on America.

Read through any of Aaron’s posts, check out his simple Field Notes idea or view his Flickr collections where he hits garage sales searching for lost design America and you’ll understand his passion.

So when I saw the logo, I needed more background as the release was short on details. Turns out due to a Black Helicopters clause, Aaron can’t say anything about his specific involvement other than to say that he was involved. He did tell that he’ll eventually be able to tell more about it, a logo tell-all if you will.

But if I had to guess which one he did based on seeing the design he features on his blog, I’d say he did the Recovery Act logo on the left. It appears as traditional as anything from the past but clean and simple enough to fit with today’s simple Twitter 2.0 esthetic. In short, it harkens. I said harkens.

And that I'm guessing is probably what they wanted. Something timeless that can instill confidence in people, not just this generation, but the generations before who remember how things were with the economy. Ultimately, everyone would agree that a logo won’t do that if the basic program it’s for doesn’t work.

Logos can only mean as much as we impart on them, based in no small part on how we feel about the product. (The Swastika and Enron symbols were cool once too.)

As Recovery money hits the streets, it’s too soon to see what effect it will have. All I know is if the plan doesn’t work, it won’t be Aaron’s fault.


Tags: TIGER, ARRA