First Impression
I have been hearing a lot about the Barack Obama website. People are saying it is so innovative in its organization and just straight up beautiful. I decided to check it out and compare it to the McCain site for overall impressions.
The Obama site is definitely easier to digest and find your way around. The overall color choice and style for the Obama site is what draws you in though. In comparison to the McCain site, McCain all of a sudden looks like 1992. Im pretty sure he is working with the Dodge Caravan colors from that year. Both websites use predominately blue which is much more hopeful color than red. On that note, certain blues are more "hopeful" than others. The Obama site has definitely chosen the right one there.
There is much more to compare. Any thoughts from the Matchstic faithful?
4 Comments
"A bit dated, but we did a review of Obama and Clinton several months ago during *that* epic battle. Across the board, we were selecting Obama.
http://blog.sherpawebstudios.com/2008/04/17/obama-website-win/"
- David Felfodli
"I'd say Obama's people know their audience.
Consider the fact that Obama has nearly 2 million Faceboon 'friends,' and McCain has (I think) 40,000."
- amy schubert
"It all becomes very interesting when you take a look at an earlier version of McCain's site:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/RomneyEmail24-thumb.jpg
Seems like the maverick team took a few pages from Obama's book, though they couldn't organize the loot very well. There are certain graphic elements that have clearly been influenced by the Obama site -- overall color, placement, gradients and dramatic (or is that hopeful?) lighting effects, etc. -- but the result is a typographic mess that looks more like a Netscape web portal page than McCain HQ.
The problem is that piecing all these things together isn't going to do you any good. More proof that, first and foremost, consistency builds recognition. A good visual identity is more than than just smashing together all the right components.
Though the longer I think about it, McCain's design team might be smarter than face value suggests. The visual chaos could very well feel familiar and comforting to those who frequent http://www.foxnews.com/politics."
- Alvin
"Don't know if you thought about how well mccain defined his audience by using type that is legible from the stratosphere."
- gern