Ms. Adverthinker

The annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival wrapped up over a week ago and I am finally starting to feel caught up on sleep and missed work.  I have had the time to reflect on the experience and learning with a semblance of organized thought.  Here are the themes and my key takeaways from SXSWi 2011.

Games!

Gaming is more than just entertainment.  The extensive gaming topics at SXSWi were really all about game mechanics and incorporating those into work, play, education and general problem solving.

Seith Priebatsch, the founder of location-based game SCVNGR, made the point that game mechanics can be used in any situation to drive results from the targeted audience: incorporating a different rewards system, involving team/communal aspects and instilling time limits all are ways of changing the way people engage in various activities, thereby making them a game rather than a chore.

Gaming is being talked about even outside the uber-techie audiences of SXSW: the March issue of Wired magazine, in an article titled “How Games Make Work Seem Like Play,” Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken says:

“‘Games are the future of positive psychology’…Games, she says, bring out our better angels: When we play a game, we think creatively, collaborate, and persist. ‘You can apply game design,” she adds, ‘to anything.’”

It is time to start thinking about game mechanics and how those can be leveraged in marketing communications and outreach.

Location, Location, Location

Location-based services will continue to evolve.  It is no longer just about finding your friends and announcing to your friends that you are at someplace that is cool. It is going to be about discovery and expanding the users’ worlds. Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare, believes that users will ultimately want recommendations through location-based applications rather than the coupons or promotions.

Location-based services will continue to grow.  More users are joining every day.  Foursquare has 7.5 million users. SCVNGR has 1 million users.  There is an assumption that Gowalla has approximately 1 million users. Facebook has 600 million users and the approximation is that 30 million of those have tried Facebook Places.

Businesses need to be exploring and experimenting with these tools.  Their customers are already checking in and leaving tips and recommendations.  It is time to become part of those conversations and even enhance the experiences.

Community

Marketers talk a lot about social networks and social media.  And many tend to erroneously think of social networks as another channel for “pushing” messages to a target audience.  But what social networks are really about is community: groups of like-minded people coming together to share experiences.  It is time to remind brands that this is what consumers want and stop social media from becoming just another advertising channel.

Social Behavioral Norms Applied to the Social Web

One of the most interesting presentations I saw at SXSWi was done by a design team from Frog Design that used a dinner party as the analogy for social media and our interactions through those social channels.  The point was this: we understand how to behave at a dinner party with varying types of audiences and relationships, but we have no idea how to translate those behaviors to social media.  And brands are especially bad at this.  Their advice was to humanize brands and think about social media interactions as simply social interactions:

1. Pull back the curtain and give people access to the information they want and need.
2. Stop selling and start sharing.  Self-promotion is awkward in social situations.
3. Stop talking and start listening.  What are people saying about you and what can you learn from that?

This seems so obvious, yet no brand is doing this really well yet.  It is time to consider the space and act like we would act in a social world in which we were physically present.

Trans-media Storytelling

Trans-media storytelling is about taking the viewer through a story in a more interactive way, jumping from channel to channel across video, mobile applications, websites and even print.  These channels are used both simultaneously and independently.  The varying channels can work together while playing to each of their individual strengths to make the user/viewer experience richer and more entertaining.  Many brands and storytellers are already doing this; now it has a name.  For those that have yet to dip their toes into this method of storytelling, it is time to start experimenting.

Keep the User Experience in Mind.  Always.

Marketers, designers, developers, and people in general are too inwardly focused.  We all tend to think about what we want and what we understand and what we need.  Yet, we are typically communicating, designing and developing for others.  We all know, intellectually, not to do this.  But, practically, we do it any.  It is time to stop that and consciously make the effort to consider the end user.

Entrepreneurship

The number of entrepreneurs, authors and innovative people in general present at SXSWi was awe-inspiring.  Through the power of the internet and technology, starting a business is easier than ever before which, of course, leads to a flooded market.  But there are some great ideas floating around.  I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

In addition to all the education and thought-provoking sessions that contributed to the experience, I also had some learning about how to manage my days and log my experience at SXSWi.  These are my notes to myself when planning for next year:

• Don’t carry computer and accessories around all day; the iPhone and iPad are more than sufficient for taking notes.
• Pack snacks.
• Get a good camera and learn how to use it to document the experience in photos.
• Figure out how to document the experience via video.  More video, less words.
• Take a wingman.  A week at a conference is more fun with a friend, preferably someone you can riff with.
• Buy Red Bull for the hotel fridge.

Day four of South by Southwest is now complete. It was another long, but good day. The theme from today’s attended sessions was: always consider your end user; stop designing/developing/marketing for yourself.

Today, I attended the following sessions:

• How to Personalize Without Being Creepy
• Games: Tools for Mass Communication
• Enabling New Experiences and Creating Serendipity through Check-ins
• Felicia Day, Monday Keynote
• The Thank You Economy
• Anatomy of a Design Decision

Once again, I posted my raw notes from each session to this blog.  Here are my key takeaways from each of today’s sessions.

How to Personalize Without Being Creepy

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: Ultimately, the user will appreciate and more customized and personalized experience; but the providers must be explicit on the front end as to what kind of information people are releasing and how it will be used.

People are comfortable with personalization when they can intellectually connect the dots to the origination of the data.  For example, if you buy a house and then start getting Pottery Barn catalogues, you can assume that Pottery Barn bought a list of new homeowners.  But, if you can’t make that link in some way, then it feels stalker-ish and creepy.  We have reached a new level of comfort with relinquishing control of data; users understand tools like Facebook Connect that follow them across the internet and are okay with that.

Games: Tools for Mass Communication

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: People are playing games.  They really are.  And, if a brand creates a game that is fun to play, people will most likely play it.

If we can create places where people can play, have discussions, learn and engage, even if it is in a simulated environment, they will do it and spend time engaging with your brand.

Enabling New Experiences and Creating Serendipity through Check-ins

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: The key to location-based technology is going to be discovery of places and experiences you might not otherwise have found either through proximity to your current location or referrals and recommendations from friends in your circle.

Location-based services will continue to evolve.  It is no longer just about finding your friends and announcing to your friends that you are at someplace that is cool.  It is going to be about discovery and expanding the users worlds.

Felicia Day, Monday Keynote

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: If there is something you dream of doing, do it yourself.  Don’t wait on someone to invite you to do it.  Learn from your mistakes and make yourself better.

Actually, there was a lot more to Felicia Day’s keynote interview.  Day created an online web show that has taken off and grown arms and legs, thereby allowing her to create even more web shows and a production company.  And she did all of it by jumping in and figuring stuff out.  Along the way, she became great at online communications campaigns.  In her opinion, effective communications come from revealing a personality: online personalities are getting a ton of hits because people emotionally connect to the people.

The Thank You Economy

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: With social media we are increasing one-to-one human interactions and it is time for marketers to stop using it as a “push” channel.  We need to engage in human activity.

This was by far the best presentation of the day.  Gary Vaynerchuk is a highly dynamic speaker: smart, funny and successful.  I promptly purchased his book after the event and will probably be recommending it to all my co-workers and clients.

Quote of the session:

“Everyone in social media today acts like a 19 year old dude: they try to close too fast. You have to build a relationship and build context. There is no such thing as a social media campaign. A social media campaign is a one night stand. You have to build the relationship.”

Anatomy of a Design Decision

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes.

Key takeaway: When designing, style guides don’t work.  Style guides prevent thinking and the best design includes thinking.

The speaker walked through several different styles of user interface design (Self Design, Unintentional Design, Genius Design, Activity-Focused Design, Experience-Focused Design).  He noted that all are valid, depending on the the end use of a site.

One more day to go.  I think I am getting close to information overload, which is a good feeling.

These are my raw notes from this session.

Self Design is when you design for yourself. This works when there area ton of users just like you. And, you, yourself have to use the product everyday. A notion called dogfooding. That means that anything in the design that frustrates you, you will improve it.

Unintentional Design happens when we focus on the architecture rather than the actual use. This works only when users will put up with whatever we give them.

Genius Design. David Potet, specialize in school websites (New City Media). It is about using our own knowledge based on experience. Works when we are solving the same problems repeatedly.

Activity-Focused Design. Has to do with who we are designing for and what do they do. Focusing on the activities and designing specifically for those.

Six Flags thinks about the activities. Disney focuses on the experience.

Experienced Focused Design. When we are designing for the entire experience.

College websites fall under the spell of girls under trees.

It doesn’t matter where the search box is, as long as it looks like a search box. Rules don’t work. Style guidelines don’t work.

Rule based decisions are the opposite of informed decision. Rule based decisions prevents thinking. Design doesn’t work that way. Design wants thinking.

If you got something done, then you had a process. A methodology is repeatable. Dogma is the faith. That certain things have to just work. Techniques are the building blocks that go into every step of the process. Tricks are techniques that aren’t used quite the right way. Trick is a tool that we use probably not in the way it was intended, but if I stop to get the right tool, I would waste time.

The best companies didn’t have a methodology or dogma. The worst did. Rules don’t work. The companies that use techniques and tricks were using informed decision making. The best designers spend 2 hours every two weeks watching someone actually use your design. The design will improve dramatically.

Every design style has it’s purpose. As designers, Ned to understand what it means to use it successfully. The great designers know what style they are using. they use the same design style throughout the process. And everyone on the team used the same style. The more advanced the style, the more expensive it gets. Agencies can’t go beyond Genius Design because to produce a great experience, it costs a lot. It has to come from in house – decisions have to be made operationally. The more advanced the style, the better you get.

What do you want you be as a designer?

The hump day of the SXSW conference is now complete; three days down, two to go. As an added bonus to the exhaustive schedule of SXSW, today we lost an hour with daylight savings time.

A few general observations:

• Today’s themes were community and online user experience.
• SXSW is also known as “spring break for geeks.”  This means that there is a lot of drinking and a lot of parties.  Which also means that the 9:30 AM sessions are generally quiet and the lines at the coffee bars are generally short early in the morning.  Being a morning person, I like this.
• I feel a little starstruck when I am in a session with a panel of people that I follow on Twitter but have never met in person.  They are like mini celebrities in geek world.
• I am getting old.  Carrying around a heavy bag all day yesterday meant that I was so sore I could barely get out of bed this morning.  This is not the reason that other people could barely get out of bed this morning (see first bullet).
• My iPad battery and iPhone battery lasted all day with power to spare.  Tomorrow my bag will be even lighter minus the power cord.  Hopefully each day my load will get lighter.
• I need photography lessons.

Today, I covered the following sessions:

• Decision Trees: YouTube’s New Breed of Interactive Storytellers
• Designing iPad Interfaces
• Better Crowdsourcing: Lessons Learned from the 3six5 Project
• Christopher Poole of 4chan, Sunday Keynote
• Haters Gonna Hate: Lessons for Advertisers from 4chan
• Jeffery Zeldman’s Awesome Internet Design Panel

I posted my raw notes from each session to this blog, but here are my key takeaways and summaries from each.

Decision Trees: YouTube’s New Breed of Interactive Storytellers

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: You can do some really cool things with video, using tools that YouTube provides like “annotations” and create an interactive experience from what used to be the passive experience of just watching a video.

Here are some examples produced by the panelists:

American Idol Interactive Experience

Green Eyed World (Sprite Sponsorship)

Gaming invaded a session that I had no idea was going to be about gaming. Gameification is part of everything this year.

Designing iPad Interfaces

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: iPad navigation should give the users cues as to its use: (1) relatable –hint at real world physical experiences (website-like navigation, physical spaces), (2) discoverable — suggest the desired interaction (grids, carousels) or (3) learnable — providing instructions/guides for use.

Better Crowdsourcing: Lessons Learned from the 3six5 Project

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: Crowdsourcing gives a voice to those who might not have had the opportunities to be heard before, which can be very rewarding for those that manage the project.  Crowdsourcing requires the management of large groups of people which can be time intensive and challenging for those that manage the project.

The 3six5 Project was a crowdsourced lifestreaming project with the idea that each day a journal entry was contributed by a different person.  The panelists talked about the challenges and rewards of an online crowdsourced project such as the 3six5, Six Items or Less and Victors & Spoils.

Christopher Poole of 4chan, Sunday Keynote

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: People need community and can do creative, good, fun things when they come together, even anonymously.

4chan is a very simple image board where people can post images they create for others to pick up and use as they want.  There is no archive, there is no search and there is no registration.  If the community doesn’t like the image, the image falls off the stream.  If the community likes the image, it stays in the stream longer.  Most internet memes have originated on 4chan.

Haters Gonna Hate: Lesson for Advertisers from 4chan

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: People are remixing, playing with and editing our brands on their own, whether we want or allow or not; using 4chan as a metaphor for community dynamics in general can teach us what happens when the community takes over.

We can learn community behaviors from the 4chan community to prepare for the things that happen when our brands become “owned” by the communities.  This includes shows of support, expressions of dislike, disruptions, establishment of rules and how much we can ask our communities to do.

Quote of the session: “If you are not getting the views that you want, then consumers are telling you that you are not culturally relevant.”

Jeffery Zeldman’s Awesome Internet Design Panel

Here is a link to the official session description and here is a link to my raw notes for this session.

Key takeaway: Design with the end user/use in mind.

Designers/developers are guilty of developing for themselves rather than the end user.

Day three is complete.  I am exhausted already.  More coverage to come tomorrow.

These are my raw notes from this session.

We choose how to experience a site/app based on the tool we use: iPad, iPhone, Chrome, etc.

But, have to think about how the end user will experience it. They are technology agnostic. They don’t want to think about how it looks in Firefox vs. Chrome.

Creators need to continue thinking about the end user.

Treesaver.net, open source. Write once, publish everywhere.

Algorithms, JavaScript, HTML 5, Flash. (I am in a very large room full if developers.)

A print designer has total tyranny over the page. The reader can’t escape. On the web, the user can and wants to consume in a variety of ways.

Content consumption is changing and people will pay for content, buy the pricing model is broken. You used to get a handful of magazines each month, a couple odor books and newspapers. Now you might read 2000 blogs each month. You aren’t going to pull out your credit card 2000 times each month. The business models need to be reinvented.

Readability plug-in. Reformats text on the fly using HTML and JavaScript. And hides the ads. Perhaps Readability and bookmarking tools become subscription based and every time you click, the author gets part of your subscription money.

People love to read on the internet, but it is hard to do with all the flashing ads and columns, etc.

Now asking apps to curate for you because consumers are overwhelmed with tier feeds. But tools like Flipboard need some kind of human editor.

Don’t advertise, create things that remind people that they are human, or create something that they want to use.

Creators need to put the user first. What is the user trying to achieve? Start with mobile? Perhaps.

These are my raw notes from this session.

AKQA
@Lynn_teo
Head of User Experience

Theory

The first toy you had as a child was really some form of an interface.

Common interfaces: calculator, computer mouse closed the gap between user and interface, tablets with stylus went even further, and then touch tablets took the user directly to the interface.

Touch is direct, removes ambiguities, leverages forms.

Four elements of form: size, shape, form, mechanics.

Shows video from YouTube of 2 year old figuring out how to use iPad very, very quickly. Shows how compelling the form of the iPad is, even to a two year old. The physical form of a device lends itself to how you interact with it. The physical device invites you to play with it.

Form follows function. – Louis Sullivan, architect

Objects have behavioral interactive clues: chairs, doors, drawers, lenses, Rolodex.

Form informs function.

Looked at 80 apps in preparation for today’s presentation. A lot of variety, a broad spectrum.

Practice

Target app. Brings physical world elements into app.

Audi app. Form factor lends itself to exploration. Replicates the physical space of the showroom floor. Can go onto the car. Content is not deep, but that is more engaging and you want people to snack on the info.

Epicurious app. Replicate a flip book.

Page view carousel.

MoMA. Makes you feel like you are actually staring at art on the wall. Can swipe across a timeline of artists. Replicates the experience of going to a museum and being able to get up close.

Flipboard. Stories are represented as physical tiles. Snack on content.

CNN. Presenting news as if it were a board with stories tacked up on it. Give users the ability to skim headlines. Big pictures.

Reuters. Video strip at the bottom. Physical recreation of newspapers. A lot of photo galleries.

Wired. The notion of a layer, ability to navigate back with direct access to other stories.

Courtside. Physical replication of being at the game. Layers. Can watch a game live or pre-recorded.

The best navigation systems are the ones that hint at common constructs, hint at physical experiences, it is okay to reuse familiar web/mobile concepts.

Navigation schemas that are drawn from familiar constructs are relatable.

Gap. Grid feels very free form. Tells you that you should be exploring and the order doesn’t matter. Interface that makes use of discoverability easy.

Gilt. Commie apps show presentation of products in extremely big tiles. If you tap on the tile, it spins and gives a different view of garnet. Discoverability. Lean on web conventions, buttons that give drop down menu alternate view.

Auditorium. Bits of info fed to you in a progressive way. Can launch iTunes. Designed on the premise of relaxing and getting into the music. No rules, up to user as to how to navigate. Giving users a sense of infinity.

The Daily. Makes it clear that there’re interactive elements you can be playing with.

Style.com. Carousels are pumped up. Each row moves independently. Becoming a convention. Invites exploration.

NPR. Gives cues to show more content. Split screen content. Layers. Buttons at the bottom ten to be non-contextual.

Yellow Pages. Even they are adopting a different approach that allows for discovering businesses. Tiles that flip and bring info to you.

ABC News. Unconventional. Spherical in nature. How to get people to explore and read more articles. No fixed principles. Still sticking to the rules of disciverability and something familiar that implies how it should be used.

Principles: intuitive, visual affordance (cues to suggest interaction), user feedback, fewer options (even the news applications simplify what they show on the first screen, becomes less overwhelming and intimidating).

Simple, intuitive navigation makes them discoverable.

Pulse. Tells you what to do. Being explicit and providing users with a quick snapshot of the navigation.

Food and Wine. gives a quick snapshot of navigation. Help guide gives tips on gestures.

Wired. Wall of pages. Can deep dive into any article. Inspired by print, but training users on new interface paradigms.

The Daily. Carousel used to spin the articles, there is no question what you should be doing when you get here. It is huge, which makes the cues extremely learnable and clear.

Twitter. Overlapping screens that cascade.

Marvel. Comic books. Explicit instruction would have been good here, users didn’t realize there were different things they can do.

Don’t understand how powerful navigation help guides can be. Repetitive application. Explicit in-context instruction.

User instruction built in insure that navigation is learnable.

Navigation system should be relatable (hinting at physical experience, not replicating it), discoverable, learnable.

New form factors bring about new interaction behaviors. The form of then iPad help users interact with content differently.

Here are my raw notes from this session.

Presenter tells the story of Doug Bowman leaving Google because of the 41 shades of blue type testing. Data showed that there certainly was a difference in how the blues were used. The click through rate for green content is less than the click through rate for blue links. Data suggests that the darker the link, the better the click through.

Bing’s blue was worth $80 million to them. These discussions matter.

Intuition driven design verses data driven design. Most designers are intuition driven. Aesthetics are how they sell their work.

When it is data driven, every design decision is tested. You don’t do things like trust your gut.

Reasons metrics are a designer’s best friend:

1. Metrics reduce arguments based on opinion.

2. Metrics give you answers about what really works.

3. Metrics show you where you are strong (and weak) as a designer.

4. Metrics allow you to test anything you want.

5. Clients love metrics.

Which metrics to use? They will be as unique as your business.

Google Analytics are high level views; there is not any actionable data for design decisions. They are vanity metrics, like hit counters of the 90s.

The Usage Lifecycle: for example, interested, trial/beta user, customer, passionate customer (varies depending on your customer and business). And there are stages/hurdles in between each one: acquisition, conversion, engagement, satisfaction.

With metrics, you are measuring how you move people through this cycle.

Acquisition Metrics:

How much didn’t cost for you to acquire that person? What is the lifetime value of that customer? And, how do these two compare.

Performance acquisition metrics: comparative metrics, revenue by channel, revenue by acquisition. Email is the best performing acquisition channel.

Conversion funnel analysis: How many people make it through each step/page of the conversion and where are you seeing the drop off and how does it need to be fixed to increase conversion?

Engagement Metrics:

Hits
Page views
Visits
Unique visitors
Returning visitors
Registered users
Customers
Frequency
Time on site
Daily active users

Cohort analysis: break up your users based on segments when they started. So you can see if engagement is improving over time.

On Facebook, a design change on the deactivation page prevented 1 million people from not leaving the site. They added a message that said: these people are going to miss you.

Satisfaction Metrics:

Referral through Net Promotors Score. This one question is a very good indicator of how satisfied your customers are: how likely are you to recommend this product/service to a friend?

Emergent Metrics:

Once a FriendFeed user found five friends, they became very active users. Once FriendFeed understood that, they made a design change to integrate a find friends tool. It was part of the stream.

At Blogger, they looked at the number of posts as a key metric.

Look for the one thing that really drives a lot of other activity. (Like a tipping point.)

Starbucks’ new oatmeal bowl fits perfectly on top of the cup lids. Smart.

Originally uploaded by reevesemily501

Interesting interview with a designer of the Obama campaign logo.

More on the influence and importance of design: this week the NY Times had an article contrasting and comparing the websites of Obama and Clinton as if one were a Mac and one a PC.  This further illustrates the point made earlier this week in the comparison of font use by the different presidential candidates–never underestimate the power of good design.  According to the NY Times article:

“The differences between hillaryclinton.com and barackobama.com can be summed up this way: Barack Obama is a Mac, and Hillary Clinton is a PC.

That is, Mr. Obama’s site is more harmonious, with plenty of white space and a soft blue palette. Its task bar is reminiscent of the one used at Apple’s iTunes site. It signals in myriad ways that it was designed with a younger, more tech-savvy audience in mind — using branding techniques similar to the ones that have made the iPod so popular.”

“In contrast to barackobama.com, Mrs. Clinton’s site uses a more traditional color scheme of dark blue, has sharper lines dividing content and employs cookie-cutter icons next to its buttons for volunteering, and the like.”

The article does question, however, if this “being a Mac” is good politics:

“While Apple’s ad campaign maligns the PC by using an annoying man in a plain suit as its personification, it is not clear that aligning with the trendy Mac aesthetic is good politics. The iPod may be a dominant music player, but the Mac is still a niche computer. PC, no doubt, would win the Electoral College by historic proportions (with Mac perhaps carrying Vermont).”

Who knew there was such a thing as a “specialty in semiotic analysis of package design for consumer-product companies?”  According to an article in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine,  there is just such a thing and what it means is that the specialist “applies the close-reading analytical skills you might associate with deconstructing a novel or a work of art to the breaking down of logos and packaging to their ‘constituent parts’ and ‘indexical signs.’”  For the article, he broke down the Tide logo in ways I would have never imagined:

“…the original Tide package…communicated ‘cyclone in a box,’ he says.  ‘There’s this great dynamic tension there.  The word “Tide” is bursting out of the circle, and the circle is standing out of the box.  It’s almost a baroque composition; it’s like what Steven Spielberg would do if he were designing a brand.’  The idea was that Tide is a ‘force of nature–it’s a phase shift’…’some sophisticated color research’–involving a psychologist who specialized in such things–went into selecting a bright scheme that would suggest ‘sufficient power,’ tempered with the ‘likable’ blue that had a more ‘sensitive’ connotation.”

This article is a great reminder that good design takes a lot of research, hard work and talent to produce.  Never underestimate the subliminal power of logos and design.  For a  timely example as we approach Super Tuesday, check out this article in the Boston Globe that breaks down the font use and logo design of each of the major candidates.  Here is a sample:

Clinton

“The Hillary type palette is far from fresh and colorful; it is begging for legitimacy instead of demanding respect. It projects recycled establishment. The type has a tired feeling, as if the ink has been soaking into the page too long. The Hillary logo has the look of an ’80s newspaper layout or an investment company. The tall lower-case reminds me of someone with their pants pulled up too high. I wonder about the significance of the three stars and three stripes. A third term?”

Obama

“Obama’s type is contemporary, fresh, very polished and professional. The serifs are sharp and pointed; clean pen strokes evoke a well-pressed Armani suit. The ever-present rising sun logo has the feeling of a hot new Internet company. His sans serifs conjure up the clean look of Nike or Sony. This typography is young and cool. Clearly not the old standards of years past.”

McCain

“McCain uses type that is a perfect compromise between a sans and a serif, what type geeks call a “flared sans.” Not quite sans and not quite serif, sort of in between, moderate, not too far in either direction. The strokes have contrast between the thick and thin, creating the feeling that the ends are going to have cute little serifs, but they just flare out a little, not forming actual serifs but wanting to. The military star centered and shadowed is a not-so-subtle touch. And McCain just says “President,” as if to say he’s already been elected. Everything about this logo says you can buy a car from this man. From the perfectly centered star to the perfectly spaced type, the entire design looks like a high-end real estate company. McCain has done something no other candidate has done, he uses all blue, no red – not even a dash. If we were to predict the results based on typography and design, we would pick McCain and Obama.”