Pete Buttigieg, also known as “Mayor Pete” because of his preposterously hard-to-say name, has made the campaign load a little easier on his supporters with a great typeface: Aktiv Grotesk.
It’s an easy to read bold sans-serif that allows his name to be seen and understood.
As a graphic designer and a proud Bernie Sanders supporter, Buttigieg’s typographic palette stuck out to me and caused me to think outside my “Bernie bubble.” The nice kerning, the spacing between the letters and other aspects of Buttigieg’s logo simply got to me.
While many may disagree that a pleasantly designed logo and a strong color choice is not the way to the presidency, this designer full heartedly disagrees.
Alex Brizee | Argonaut
Buttigieg’s use of modern typography shines a light on the industrial side of America while using a readable body copy, Domaine Text, shows his ability to be in touch with a younger generation.
Isn’t a politician in touch with the “younger generation” exactly what we liberals so dearly want?
Even his ability to laugh at himself, with his cumbersome last name, Buttigieg has had fun with it — creating campaign material that shows the pronunciation of his name as boot-edge-edge.
In a short time, Buttigieg has made his way up the list of candidates and is now considered in the same league as Sanders and Biden.
But all this begs the question: will the hype stay for boot-edge-edge or will he fall flat as more information is uncovered?
I think he is on the right track, and I’m not just talking about his type tracking and letter spacing.
While typography and color choices may be a vain look into a presidential candidate, it sets an image of who Buttigieg is. It makes him stand out from the other 20 potential Democratic candidates.
Plus, we didn’t look at actual qualifications last election. So, if the battle of who should run our country came down to a good typeface, Buttigieg takes the lead.
Now, he should the beautiful navy and yellow images he and his team created and give it substance.
As much as I think he should just win based solely on his typographic choices — most Americans may not agree.
I would like to see what the substance to his ideas are. Buttigieg may be waiting to put his full policies and ideals out as they might be too far left for a lot of people.
As the first openly gay candidate running for president, Buttigieg is going to face a lot of hardship. Keeping his liberal views close to his chest may seem like the best option right now.
He will soon gain so much traction voters are going to be asking a lot more of him than a beautiful logo.
But for now, let’s just appreciate that Aktiv Grotesk.
Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @alex_brizee