10 Anti-Buttons: Lessons in Design

Since the dawn of electioneering, dirty tricks and negative advertising have been accepted strategies in many presidential campaigns (indeed few candidates were harder hit with mud than young Abe Lincoln). However, this year, the ubiquitous yet often innocuously designed lapel buttons, lawn signs, and bumper stickers, which have been emblems of allegiance, are now bludgeons. The benign smiling candidate's face with catchy slogan was once the norm but now the slap-in-the-face is common. Bushbashing and Chaneychiding is so widespread, especially in the so-called blue states, that satisfying the popular urge to oppose the incumbent has become a veritable industry that includes the design, fabrication, and sales of everything from anti-Bush T-shirts, sticker books, inflatable toys (like Bushocio, a long nosed rubber product inspired by Pinocchio), and, of course, buttons.

Official and unofficial campaign buttons are as challenging to design as postage stamps. An idea must be conveyed in such a limited space that effective type and image composition is essential to achieving the desired impact.

Like a poster, the message must read from at least five feet away, which implies that the tenets of simplicity and economy come into play. Although ephemeral, these buttons must nonetheless conform to time-honored design principles. A clever slogan may have resonance but it alone is not a well-designed button. Today with the widespread accessibility of desktop button-making programs, amateur design is rampant and flagrant. So, in the spirit of design criticism, the following analysis may serve as a menu of do's and don'ts for the design of buttons. The specimens here were purchased from three separate, independent vendors (not affiliated with either political party) in Manhattan's Union Square—a traditional hotbed of political protest and demonstrations.

ReDefeat Bush: This was one of the earliest anti-incumbent buttons issued back before the major primaries. It follows the conventional campaign model of red, white and blue color fields, and employs an added patriotic accent - the star in the bowl of the R. The standarized professional look of the design is meant to be ironic, and yet the name Bush in all caps may be a little too deceptive. Also, since the Re is separated from Defeat by the color bar, the button's intent is confusing, at least at first glance. A wearer recently cited the following incident: At Barnes and Noble a sales clerk said to her “I was wondering who in this town would support Bush, but now I see what the button really says. Clever.”