To a full auditorium, Sender discussed how the project came to his firm unsolicited and by shear luck just weeks before the junior senator from Illinois would make his announcement to run for the Presidency.

Through a colleague from the Art Institute of Chicago, whose motion design firm had a long track record with David Axelrod’s company, but no experience or capacity for identity creation, Sender received the Mother of all Referrals. His own company, Sender LLC., would become responsible for creation of the Obama campaign logo, a first of its kind, and one that would set the entire visual tone during the run for office and Presidency.

During the lecture, Sender went on to speak of the short delivery time-lines, the thought process behind several of the stronger design options, and how the mark was embraced and unexpectedly spread by voters from both a positive and negative standpoint. Sender also detailed the difficulties of letting go of their final product, and the in-house design team the Obama Campaign assembled to evolve the brand.

While props must to be given to Sender and his small team for their work; I sat in the lecture hall quietly shaking my head. Shaking my head not in awe, admiration, or jealousy, but in quite inspiration. Inspired because I know that I and many of my design colleagues execute identity projects at the same level of refined excellence as Sender and his team. Inspired that the little guy… the little agency… has a chance with a little luck and good professional contacts to make a big difference. So with that in mind, I left with a renewed energy for the identity building craft.

Two other resonating points taken from the evening were as follows:

1. How adaptable a well created mark can become across different mediums and demographics.
2. “The strongest logos tell simple stories; simple stories that the leaders of an organization are comfortable telling” – Sol Sender

For your inspiration, I have posted a few of the logo designs Sender’s team created for consideration by the Obama Camp. There is also a two part condensed video version of Sender’s presentation below that was published from his post at VSA in Chicago, it is very similar to the lecture given in Kansas City.

The lecture was presented by the Kansas City Public Library and the American Institute of Architects during the Kansas City Design Week celebration.

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The image in this post is shared with permission from the following creator under a Creative Commons license.