Design for Obama. Posters for Change: A Grassroots Anthology

by Aaron Perry-Zucker, Spike Lee, Aaron Perry-Zucker

Hundreds of artists and designers expressed support for the Obama candidacy by designing posters and submitting them to designforobama.org for free download. This selection of the very best―curated by Spike Lee and Aaron Perry-Zucker―is a visual document of the most inspirational U.S. presidential campaign in living history. From its inception, the Barack Obama campaign was destined to make history. Its message of inclusion and empowerment was spread by thousands of volunteers, a grassroots organization of unprecedented size and enthusiasm. Design for Obama built on this spirit with an online forum where artists, designers and supporters could upload their artworks and download others. Shepard Fairey’s social realist "Hope" poster became 2008’s enduring image, inspiring scores of designs that appeared on the streets, at rallies and registration drives, and in homes and offices around the country. Edited by designforobama.org founder Aaron Perry-Zucker and filmmaker Spike Lee, this collection showcases over 200 of the best pro-Obama posters. Contributors range from prominent graphic and street artists to young up-and-comers. With essays by Spike Lee, Perry-Zucker, and design historian Steven Heller, this outstanding collection serves as a matchless historical document of the widespread visual creativity that helped spur Obama to victory.

Genres: Design, Art, Art Design, Nonfiction

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of fascinating to be reading this book eight years after the art was originally created, just a few months away from the election of a new president here in the United States. That I know of, there are no mass design or art movements like this in favor of either of the leading candidates in 2016. The tone in this country is much more negative and divisive.

There's maybe 8 pages of text in this whole book and 1/2 of those are German and French translations of the preceding English text. Everything else is eye candy. A vast and entertaining assortment of eye candy supportive of Obama during the 2008 election cycle.

Quite a few of these were familiar. Here's one of my favorites that I hadn't seen before by a designer named James Nesbitt:

[Nazareth Vega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando lo tomé de la estantería no esperaba mucho más que una experiencia visual aceptable, sin embargo, cada una de las gráficas fueron seleccionadas a la perfección, realmente admirable el trabajo en cada uno de los posters. ¡Quiero imprimir uno!

[Parka · Rating 4 out of 5]

(More picture at parkablogs.com)

Somewhere along the Barack Obama campaign, a website called Design for Obama was set up. It invited artists, designers and advocates to create their own posters for the campaign. Some of the best are curated by designforobama.org founder and graphic design Aaron Perry-Zucker and filmmaker, author, and activist Spike Lee.

The work's contributed by the design community, not the usual mainstream advertising agencies.The result is a gallery of cool and diverse posters, created by the community pooling their effort into what they believe. It also goes to show that art and design can be used as a powerful communication medium.