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Posted by Jason Urban on March 14th, 2010 | Andrew Romero shares some fascinating news over at his Newsweek blog…
How Master Information Designer Edward Tufte Can Help Obama Govern recaps the Obama administration’s decision to add Edward Tufte to the independent panel that advises the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. For any unfamiliar with his work, the phrase “Master Information Designer” is perhaps an understatement when reflecting on Tufte’s impact on the discipline of information design.
It’s not surprising that a President whose election campaign was in part fueled by the power of graphics would see the potential benefits in going to a professional to help in explaining the recovery plan. Tufte seems like perfect person for the job…
“This is about visual thinking and visual evidence,” Tufte says. “It’s not about commercial art. The last thing in the world that’s needed here is a designer. What’s needed is an analytical, statistical, quantitative approach. Reporting is different from pitching. Artists who design for marketing purposes inherently have problems with credibility. This is something very different in spirit. It’s about accountability and transparency—with heavy, heavy amounts of data.”
Okay, so it’s not as flashy as Fairey’s iconic image but it’s probably a lot more useful… and overall good news for any of us in the business of visual culture.
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Posted by Jason Urban on December 3rd, 2009 | 
Printeresting has suffered from a long bout of Obamagraphics fatigue. It’s hard to believe that there hasn’t been single post relating to the Graphic Force that is Barack Obama since early spring! Some news from China last month seemed worth breaking the silence.
China may be a DVD counterfeiter’s dream but apparently it doesn’t mess around when it comes to t-shirts. Last month during Obama’s visit to Beijing, a Chinese entrepreneur learned that lesson the hard way. Liu Mingji is the designer of a popular Obama/Mao mash-up t-shirt. Mingji reportedly received a visit from uniformed officers from Beijing’s Industry and Commerce Administration. Though they officially deny any visit, Mingji has stopped all production and sales of the t-shirts.
While the shirt design can be read as potentially offensive and/or funny depending on one’s political leanings, it seems more likely that most sales were made based on kitsch appeal. Is it just me or does China seem like an unlikely opponent of junky souvenirs?
(via Steve Seidman’s Posters and Election Propaganda)
Posted by RL Tillman on July 30th, 2009 | All these clever reporters, writing about what they cleverly call the “beer summit,” think it’s so clever to headline their article “The Audacity of Hops.”
But Colorado brewery Oskar Blues made the exact same joke way back during the 2008 DNC convention:
…Too late, Mainstream Media! Too. Late.
Posted by RL Tillman on May 22nd, 2009 | 
Evan Roth asks “Who is the bigger intellectual property asshole?” Shepard Fairey, or the Associated Press?
“I have created hand painted canvases of Shepard Fairy’s Obama Hope poster, and Mannie Garcia’s Associated Press photograph and put them for sale on my website…The first person to send me a cease and desist notice wins!”
Direct link to the project.
Posted by Jason Urban on May 8th, 2009 | Greenpeace to German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “go ahead and fix the banks, but fix global warming, too.”
Just when you were starting to forget the iconic Shepard Fairey Obama poster, it gets resuscitated to support another cause. Greenpeace is promoting a December climate conference in Copenhagen by posting these Angie-You-Can posters around Germany. While I feel an almost-nostalgic appreciation at the Fairey poster reference (has it really only been a few months since inauguration?), this image falls short of inspiring “hope”. Nice try, Greenpeace, but it’s time for a new design.
On a colloquial note, Merkelgraphics lacks the catchiness of Obamagraphics.
A downloadable PDF is generously available.
Posted by Jason Urban on February 9th, 2009 | 
The saga continues. Shepard Fairey may not have liked Bush’s politics but he’s taking a page from the Bush Doctrine. Fairey is making a pre-emptive strike against the AP. From the NY Times…
Shepard Fairey filed a lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press, asking a federal judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous campaign poster image of President Obama.
And more…
The suit asks the judge to declare that Mr. Fairey’s work is protected under fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which allow limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment.
“Fairey did not do anything wrong,” said Julie A. Ahrens, associate director of the Fair Use Project and another of Mr. Fairey’s lawyers, in a statement on Monday. “He should not have to put up with misguided threats from The A.P.”
In another potential twist, the photographer Mannie Garcia says that he, not the AP, is the actual owner of the image’s copyright. There is no telling where this will go. It is wierd that as Obama himself has been bogged down with partisan politics, his iconic poster is bogged down with legal disputes.
Posted by RL Tillman on February 7th, 2009 | 
In a totally predictably development, the Godfather of Obamagraphics was arrested last night in Boston. Apparently the Bo-Po had some outstanding warrants, and picked him up at the opening of his show at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I promise not to mention this again (unless I can find some sweet Paparazzi photos of the arrest in progress).
Posted by RL Tillman on February 4th, 2009 | 
President Obama has had a tough week, and it’s not smooth sailing for Obamagraphics, either: the AP has told Shep Fairey “it’s on”:
Fairey has acknowledged [the iconic poster ] is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington. The AP says it owns the copyright, and wants credit and compensation. Fairey disagrees. “The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission,” the AP’s director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement. “AP safeguards its assets and looks at these events on a case-by-case basis. We have reached out to Mr. Fairey’s attorney and are in discussions…”
More on the story as it develops. (Thats right, Printeresting is back in the lazy-content business, kids!)
UPDATE 2/5/09: There was an interesting explanation of the relevant fair use issues on All Things Considered tonight, you can hear it at NPR.
Also, everyone should check out the detective work needed to track down the source. Ultimately, this may support Fairey’s claim to fair use; even the photog didn’t know it was his shot. And I’ve linked to this before, but it remains worth seeing: Oba-Meh
Posted by Jason Urban on January 20th, 2009 | 
Spreading the Hope: Terry Gross will be interviewing Shepard Fairey today on Fresh Air from WHYY in Philadelphia. Their site says:
The iconic poster differed from Fairey’s previous work. The image was unusual, Fairey says, because his political art is usually negative.
“I felt that Barack Obama was an unusual candidate, a special candidate, and that it was worth putting my efforts into making something positive,” he told NPR in a Jan. 2009 interview.
Now Fairey is spreading the message of hope again, this time as the official designer of the Obama inauguration poster.
UPDATE: Note that Fairey corrects T.G.- “Get with the times, Terry.”
UPDATE: Did Terry just use the term “shout out”?
UPDATE: Terry strikes back about 17 minutes into the interview. She’s quick to correct Fairey that he isn’t as much an outsider as he would like people to believe. Funny.
Posted by Jason Urban on January 20th, 2009 | …Bamakitsch.
In the spirit of the day, RL, I think there’s enough room for both terms: “Obamaphemera” and “Bamakitsch.” If you think about it, all bamakitsch may be obamaphemera but not all obamaphemera is necessarily bamakitsch, right? Not that anyone should really care either way on a momentous occasion like this one.
Here’s another t-shirt pic from Flickr. It’s no Run DC but it is someone having fun with multiples.
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