Obama's Font

In a presidential campaign, no detail is too small not to be subject of an article in a major American newspaper. The LA Times, in the "Image" section of its Sunday edition (a section dedicated to all things superficial but somehow fascinating), devoted an entire page to the question of which fonts the various campaigns have adopted. Hillary uses "New Baskerville," which is "commonly used by book publishers, law firms and universities," and has its roots in a font developed in 1757. Not exactly cutting edge. McCain uses Optima, described as "classic, quirky, elite and just a bit old-fashioned." Just like guess who!

But Obama, of course, is the hippest. His font, Gotham (just a smidgen bit of irony there that it's also another name for New York) is only seven years old. The latest and greatest in the world of typography!

John D. Berry, author of a series of books on typography, calls Gotham the font of 2008. "It's the hot one," he said. In a discussion of presidential branding on NPR's "On the Media," Gotham garnered praise for looking classy and clean with one commentator likening it to an Armani suit.

The Armani comparison may be a bit much. But it's another sign of Obama getting it right. A great politician knows that it's not enough to talk about the big picture and get the vision thing right; you have to sweat the small details. Particularly the fine print.