Gotham (typeface) - in The Obama Campaign

In The Obama Campaign

Original materials for the Obama campaign used the serif Perpetua. Later, however, upon hiring John Slabyk, and Scott Thomas, the campaign made the change to Gotham, and the font was used on numerous signs and posters for the campaign.

The International Herald Tribune praised the choice for its "potent, if unspoken, combination of contemporary sophistication (a nod to his suits) with nostalgia for America's past and a sense of duty." John Berry, an author of books on typography, agreed: "It's funny to see it used in a political campaign because on the one hand it's almost too ordinary yet that's the point. It has the sense of trustworthiness because you've seen it everywhere." Graphic designer Brian Collins noted that Gotham was the "linchpin" to Obama's entire campaign imagery.

Observers of the primary and general elections compared Obama's design choices favorably to those made by his opponents. In her campaign, Hillary Clinton used New Baskerville, a serif used by book publishers, law firms, and universities, while John McCain used Optima, the same font used for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It also has to be noticed that while the Obama campaign material still used the Perpetua typeface, the short-lived John Edwards campaign was already using Gotham Ultra.

After Obama won the presidency, Gotham and similar typefaces found their way into various federal government projects, most notably the identity of the 2010 United States Census.