Bernie’s 2022 brand shows what’s possible in an off-year
Plus: Florida’s first lady is flexing her soft power in a new campaign ad
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
Bernie’s 2022 brand shows what’s possible in an off-year
Florida’s first lady is flexing her soft power in a new campaign ad
Lo, Amy Sherald’s The World We Make has arrived
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Bernie’s 2022 brand shows what’s possible in an off-year
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said last month that he hasn’t made a final decision about running for president again, but if he does decide to run in 2024, his visual identity will be ready to go.
Sanders’ brand in 2022 benefits from the heightened notoriety of being the two-time Democratic runner-up, but without the demands of a campaign. During the presidential campaign, Sanders’ design team was part of the social media department tasked with popping out social media graphics. They were also constrained by the need to design assets for high output and mass replication.
Because Sanders isn’t running for anything this year, his schedule is lighter, but he’s still busy endorsing a slate of progressive candidates and rallying in support of the labor movement. The slower pace has allowed Friends of Bernie design director Tyler Evans to have more time on projects.
“It’s given a little bit of flexibility in terms of how the identity looks and feels,” Evans told me. “I’m able now to kind of lean in a little bit into what I view as the Bernie Sanders brand, which is an argument of his political ideals, and the argument we were pushing on the campaign, which is that there’s nothing more American than democratic socialism.”
Sanders’ visual brand is among the most identifiable in U.S. politics, especially its durable “Bernie” logo designed by powerhouse creative agency Wide Eye. Evans said he and another designer did a deep dive on how graphics performed during the presidential campaign and found supporters didn’t like deviations from the standard Sanders brand guide.
“We tested a lot of this stuff like, what if we just used a little bit different shade of this color? What if we did a little bit different font? Or what if we tried something completely different, how are people going to respond?” he said. “If we went outside of that brand, people were just like, this isn’t Bernie. They just didn’t like it.”
During a midterm year, though, when Sanders isn’t campaigning for himself, there are opportunities to break out of the standard three blues on a red, Jubilat, and Gibson. For pro-labor events, Evans has designed graphics that play off corporate branding.
“If there’s already a visual language established, we’re not looking to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “We’re not looking to make Bernie the center of attention by any means, and so we’re trying to follow their lead and just use their visual language to further amplify their fight.”
Evans said he draws inspiration from sources including Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, 1980s union design, music posters, and NBA teams. He also said he’s more comfortable trying new things.
“I definitely feel a little bit better about using yellow or using greens a little bit more leniently and just kind of breaking out of that color palette of Bernie, because his palette is literally three blues and a red and that’s it,” he said. “In 2020 I really felt, not boxed in, but really obligated to using just those four colors and I think now that there’s a little more comfort and I feel a little more confident of what I’m doing, I definitely feel a little bit better about going outside of that.”
There’s also more play with type, texture, and composition, he said, but ultimately, it still has to feel Bernie.
“The consistency of ideals and the consistency of what Bernie says also carries over into the visual language,” Evans said.
Florida’s first lady is flexing her soft power in a new campaign ad
Surrounded by pillows and lit by the glow of soft lighting against a background of beige interior design, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis reintroduced her husband to voters in a new campaign ad.
In “That is Who Ron DeSantis is,” the former local TV host sits cross-legged on a sofa as she shares a more personal side of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Describing the Republican as “the kid who grew up right here in Florida, working his tail off, paying his own way through school, then volunteering to serve in the Navy and deploying to Iraq,” she calls him, “the man who I fell in love with from the moment we met.”
DeSantis was diagnosed with breast cancer in Oct. 2021, and this March, she was announced cancer free after receiving treatment. In the ad, she says the way her husband cared for her and their family shows the kind of person he really is.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer and I was facing the battle for my life, he was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn’t, he was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand,” she says. “He was there to fight for me when I didn’t have the strength to fight for myself.”
Political spouses are invaluable at softening their significant other’s image. They offer the kind of character references that candidates can’t get anywhere else, and in DeSantis’ case, they can share deeply personal stories.
Before she was Florida’s first lady, DeSantis appeared in a corny/tongue-in-cheek campaign ad for her husband in 2018, pitching him to voters as a Trump mega-fan who read “The Art of the Deal” to their child and played “build the wall” with blocks. In the four years since, Gov. DeSantis has gone from former President Donald Trump’s protégé to a rival. Described as a “Trump without the baggage,” the Florida governor also comes with more vocal support from his wife than Trump gets. Just imagine Melania filming an ad like this.
For voters who know DeSantis as a brash, Trump-style culture warrior — an image Casey DeSantis herself helped create — her new ad now makes the case there’s more to the story as he prepares for a possible 2024 presidential run.
Lo, Amy Sherald’s The World We Make has arrived
Artist Amy Sherald’s first solo European show The World We Make opened Wednesday at Hauser & Wirth London, and based on early reviews, it doesn’t disappoint.