America’s political divide isn’t red-blue, it’s green-gray
It turns out the actual colors of our politics are green for more rural areas that vote for Republicans and gray for more urban areas that vote for Democrats. Also in this week’s issue of the Yello newsletter:
This artist is sorry she ever made a Trump magazine cover, so she remade it into a political statement
The Trump campaign used a photo of Russian jets in a digital ad
The Biden campaign has gone full hypebeast
Yours,
This artist is sorry she ever made a Trump magazine cover, so she remade it into a political statement
Credit: @tracieching/Instagram
Artist Tracie Ching has made some revisions to her 2016 portrait of Donald Trump.
Ching was hired that year by Politico to illustrate Trump and Hillary Clinton for the publication’s national convention magazine covers. In a social media post on Sunday, Ching wrote that she considers her Trump work a dark stain on her career.
Ching’s Clinton and Trump illustrations for Politico in 2016.
“One of the darkest stains on my career was illustrating the RNC and DNC covers for a major publication in 2016,” Ching wrote. “I convinced myself I was illustrating the first female president and her opponent. Obviously I was wrong and ended up lending my name/style to something else. So I’ve made some edits.”
Ching used a black-and-white version of her Trump portrait and overlaid it with orange text reading “Loser,” “Disaster,” “Racist,” “Fascist,” and “Sexist.”
Credit: @tracieching/Instagram
“Don’t make the same mistake I did and underestimate the persistence of evil,” Ching wrote. “Don’t let disbelief make you complacent or cloud your view of reality. We’re not looking for the perfect candidate at this point in the election. Just better than this…”
Ching has become one of the most recognizable progressive political artists, illustrating official presidential campaign posters for Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as portraits of Democratic Party stars like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
The Trump campaign used a photo of Russian jets in a digital ad
Credit: via Politico
An ad for the Trump Make America Great Again Committee that ran on Google between September 8 and 12 used a stock photo showing the silhouette of soldiers and Russian fighter jets. A designer who’s worked with the U.S. Air Force and the director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow both told Politico the jets were Russian-made MiG-29s.
Pierre Sprey, the USAF designer, told Politico he could tell the jets were Russian because of the angle of their tails and the spacing between the engines. The image is available on Shutterstock and neither the Trump campaign nor the photographer behind the stock image responded to questions from Politico.
The Biden campaign has gone full hypebeast
Biden campaign tee designed by Joe Perez.
The Biden campaign store rolled out a special merchandise line last week with contributions from top fashion designers. The “Believe in Better” collection includes the above streetwear-style tie dye concert tee from Joe Perez, a former designer for Kanye West’s DONDA label who designed album covers for artists like West, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj, as well as designs from Tory Burch and Gabriela Hearst.
Shirts by Tory Burch (left) and Gabriela Hearst (right).
Prabal Gurung, who’s dressed former first lady Michelle Obama, contributed a shirt that reads “Future Stronger in Color,” and Thom Browne offered up a “Believe in Better” scarf.
Campaign items by Prabal Gurung, Thom Browne, Vera Wang, and Thakoon Panichgul.
The collection also includes a Vera Wang “Vote Joe” hoodie, a Thakoon Panichgul “Unity Over Division” pullover, and items from 10 other designers.
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Graphic designers team up for Biden
Designs by Jon Contino, Tad Carpenter, Allison Black, and Jill De Haan.
A group of graphic designers came together for a campaign in support of Biden called “Rise Up, Show Up, Unite!” organized by illustrator, artist, and author Jessica Hische in collaboration with art director and designer Adé Hogue. The art is meant for a progressive audience that isn’t enthusiastic about voting for Biden.
“There’s a ‘I guess I’ll vote for him if I have to’ vibe throughout leftist social media, but exasperated resignation doesn’t get people to the polls,” Hische wrote in a blog post about the campaign. “As artists with large online followings, we feel a responsibility to use our platforms to help causes we believe in and try to bring positive change to the world when possible—even if that means losing a few followers along the way.”
Hische and Hogue contributed designs, as did more than 20 designers and lettering artists. Though not associated with the campaign, Hische wrote that she did have a conversation with the Biden creative team about the need for visible support for Biden.
America’s political divide isn’t red-blue, it’s green-gray
The New York Times found that there’s a lot we can deduce about an area’s politics from aerial shots. The above graphic from the Times’ Upshot shows a random selection of aerial images taken across the continental U.S. that were arranged according to 2016 margin of victory. Areas with more gray pavement tended to vote for Clinton by a larger margin, while areas with either more green open spaces or areas with sandy desert colors because of rock, sand, and clay tended to vote for Trump by a larger margin.
This is what the 100,000 most frequently occurring landscape colors in the U.S. look like after being processed and sorted according to 2016 margin of victory:
“When you move around the place you live in, think about what colors you see,” The Upshot wrote. “Those hues may say something about how your neighbors (and even you) might vote this November.”
You can read about the full project here.
Here’s the final Mississippi flag proposal
The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag selected the “New Magnolia Flag” as the new state flag earlier this month.
The flag was created by Mississippi graphic designer Rocky Vaughn, who’s been creating proposals for new flags for seven years, according to local station WLOX. It uses an illustration of a magnolia bloom, the state’s official flower, by designer Sue Anna Joe, who grew up in Mississippi and now lives in San Francisco. Artist Kara Giles of Oxford, Mississippi, who was brought on by the commission to consult and contribute, also worked on the design. The flag has 21 stars, which represent Mississippi being the 20th state, plus a 21st gold star representing the Native Americans of the region.
“I think it is a really solid design that is instantly recognizable as a magnolia but is also fresh, modern, and sleek,” Giles told WLOX. Mississippi voters will decide in November whether or not to approve the design.