Name the lovely Obama Serif!

October 8, 2008 1:14 AM

What typeface is used in the Obama promotional materials? No, not Gotham, I'm looking for the serif used for his name. Sample linked inside.

Sample: Obama/Biden

Both WhatTheFont and Identifont failed miserably btw.

Thanks in advance!

posted by potch to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Sender, LLC designed the Obama campaign logo which has gone through some transitions from Obama to OBAMA to OBAMA/BIDEN now, with variances in case and bolding and other tweaks. I found a video with a Sender designer discussing the process here: Obama Logo Video.

The designer says the serif font used is Perpetua.
posted by empyrean at 1:37 AM on October 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Wonderful! Clearly, Sender did some heavy tweaking to the logotype (such as straightening the verticals on the M), but it's at heart the same typeface, or certainly close enough. Here's why I wanted it:

That One/Joe '08.

A complete waste, in retrospect, but hopefully people will get to watch the video (which is splendid), and broaden their knowledge. Thanks!
posted by potch at 2:09 AM on October 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

You'd probably want it as THAT ONE: there's a small but noticeable size drop between the first and last letters in the Perpetua OBAMA.
posted by holgate at 6:12 AM on October 8, 2008

That's not Perpetua. They used Perpetua for the logotype when it was just "Obama" set in lowercase. The designer in the video even talks about how the logo had been adapted and changed to all caps in a way that sounds like Sender was no longer involved for those changes. As for what the typeface is now, I can't help you.
posted by stopgap at 6:40 AM on October 8, 2008

It's definitely worth noting that while Sender may have designed the "O" logomark, all subsequent design work was done by an in house team. The lead designer is obviously working full time for the campaign, but has his own boutique firm that he plans to return to when the campaign is over.
posted by awesomebrad at 8:32 AM on October 8, 2008

Best answer: According to Typophile, it's HTF Requiem. Definitely tweaked/redrawn.
posted by O9scar at 8:32 AM on October 8, 2008