A phone call out of the blue from acquaintance turned friend, John Fitzgerald went something like this.
*Ring*
Me: Hello, Congressman.
John: Not quite yet. Hey, what are you up to?
—
John told me he was planning to run for the Michigan Legislature.
Me: What can I do to help?
I started work on a logo for the campaign. His only stipulation: it must include green.
John is the fifth generation from his family to hold elected office, including a two-term Governor of Michigan, a Michigan Supreme Court Justice, his father was a State Representative, as was his great-great grandfather.
34th and 36th Governor of Michigan, Frank Dwight Fitzgerald
FITZGERALD isn’t exactly a short name, and JOHN isn’t exactly unique. I knew there would be size constraints and any branding would need to accommodate those. Business cards, yard signs, banners, posters, walk cards, it needed to be recognizable, memorable, thoughtful, and genuine. For some voters, this would be their first time meeting John or putting a face to a name, and he needed to make a good impression.
I elected to go with a bold and blocky sans serif for JOHN. After all, despite more than 100 years of family service to Michigan, he was still John. Adapting a typeface reminiscent of Art Deco and nodding to that century of commitment helped to establish his family’s dedication.
That same versatility meant branding for John and the campaign had to be able to flex when needed to highlight issues important both to John and his constituents during the campaign.
The brand and colors established, a focus on key issues, John and I worked to hone his “voice” to tackle interview questions and earn endorsements while I managed photo and video assets from events, distributed press releases, put together layouts for printed materials in additional to digital media, and funnel as many people as possible back to commit a few dollars or a few hours to send John to Lansing.
John won the election by more than 8%
Skills Utilized
- Graphic Design
- Content Development
- Copywriting
- Photography/Videography
- Social Media Management
- Personal and Public Speaking
- Event Management
- Print Management
- Project Management
- Strategic Marketing
