Sol Sender - Latest Stories

MnIndy’s Schmelzer to moderate ‘Designing Obama’ discussion

By admin | 05.06.09 | 3:55 pm

For decades, political campaign art had more in common with Menard’s than Milton Glaser: the graphic designer — whose job was to sell candidates through an expected visual language of flag-toned stars and/or bars — took the back seat, while the well-funded media buyer got the front. Then came Barack Obama. His campaign, lead by design director Scott Thomas, enlisted designer Sol Sender to both create a memorable identity and advance the lessons of Howard Dean’s surprise “netroots” surge of 2004. On May 12, Thomas and Sender will discuss the development of the Obama campaign in a panel called, “Designing Obama” — and Minnesota Independent editor Paul Schmelzer will be moderating the evening.

Design with a big O: On developing Obama’s campaign identity

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.13.08 | 4:26 pm

While Barack Obama apparently did many things right on his campaign, possibly the most visible mark of success was his ubiquitous graphic design identity. Now that the dust of Election 2008 is settling, Sol Sender, who along with Andy Keene and Amanda Gentry, designed the identity, is discussing how the logo came to be. Here’s a look at options the Obama campaign didn’t go with — and video of Sender, whose team had never worked on a political campaign before, explaining the process.