Political madness

Tuesday, August 10 is primary day here in CT. Since the spring, we've been inundated with political ads on TV and the radio, as well as direct mail, and most offensive--the political phone call. I get the political phone call, I really do. However, as good telemarketers do, they never call at a convenient time. As a matter of fact, if they're not calling at dinner, they're calling at the kids' bedtime. We've had them call after 9, which in my book, is just plain wrong. Is nothing safe from the telemarketer?

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about the political lawn sign. They're not everywhere--yet; but they're out there. And as usual for political lawn signs, they're pretty blah. Or are they?

Rick Torres: As far as political signs go, this one is pretty unoffensive. Sure, you've got your red, white and blue; but the size is not typical, and the lowercase letters feel more relaxed. Also, white space? Yes please. Points taken off, however, for no website--because the url is ricktorres2010.com--not ricktorres.com, as one might think.



Nitzy Cohen: Nitzy has tried to distinguish herself using not red, white or blue, but purple! If anything, it makes her stand out in a sea of political colors. Everything else? Yeah, notsomuch. The atrocious line spacing, fonts... ugh.



Dan Debicella: Again, with the no website! What is up with that? And the shooting star? Ugh. Definitely not my favorite.



Rob Merkle: Rob's got a good thing going with his last name here. Tasteful font, decent layout. I could do without the star and stripes, but whatever. It's not terrible, which is setting the bar pretty high as far as lawn signs go.



Tom Foley: OK, say it with me, people: If your name is not your url--yea, I'm talking to you, Tom Foley--your website should be on your lawn sign. Trust me, it helps. Plus, you've got the room. Like, really--you have the room. This one to me just blends into the background.



Just one more pet peeve to wrap the whole thing up: political candidates--all of you--get a consistent graphic designer, for the love! For every bad lawn sign, there's a somewhat decent website--and vice versa. There's all kinds of font inconsistencies (hint: Futura is not Helvetica--yeah, I'm talking to you, Rob Merkle), it's just painful to look at.