There seems to be a heated debate over the new Hillary Clinton logo for her campaign. I decided to take a look at it myself and really analyze its simple form.
Essentially, it’s the letter “H” with an arrow as its crossbar. There’s not much more to it visually. Critics are calling it “clunky, too simple, and boring.” As a political leader, it is unlike many of the other logos you might see. It’s not very inviting and rather impersonal. Also, there isn’t anything else to reference America other than the expected color scheme of red and blue.
How Effective Is It?
Logos should at least be versatile and memorable; this one is. Though many people don’t really care about the psychology behind a logo—other than designers. It can easily be taken at face value and “crowdsmashed.” But let’s look at the good aspects of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign logo.
1. Versatile
Though it may be simple in form, it’s extremely versatile and can be used in many different ways. As an icon, watermark, or a simple standalone graphic at any size.
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2. Memorable
There’s not much to this logo visually, so there’s nothing to overanalyze or discover. And while that can make it seem uninteresting, it also makes it easy to remember. It’s bold and the vibrancy of the color scheme is impactful.
3. Symbolic
Okay, so it’s an arrow. Big deal, right? Well, yes, arrows are commonly used symbols, but that’s because they’re easy to interpret. An arrow pointing to the right symbolizes “moving forward,” which has a positive connotation. As a country that’s slowly been recovering from a recession for quite some time, moving forward is clearly the direction to go.
Also, as mentioned earlier, it is bold—or rather, it’s strong. I dissected the logo using a grid layout, which shows a balanced infrastructure that helps emphasize stability.
You can see how the logo is composed of squares and triangles that are evenly spaced into columns and 45/90 degree angles. Also, the crossbar that connects the “H” is the same size as its vertical counterparts. The prominence of geometry in this logo help make it very iconic.
What do you think?
When you get right down to it, it’s a simple logo that doesn’t appear very interesting. The debate about whether or not it’s a “good” logo doesn’t really matter, because it’s effective and that’s the point.
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
“clunky, too simple, and boring” also describes Hillary, but I got the ” Hillary is moving forward” meaning right away so it is effective which is also like Hillary.
She is effective! Good point, Steve. 🙂
I like her new logo. I agree it’s not what you might expect as a political logo, but it’s certainly not bad. I especially like how versatile it is, too. Good breakdown!