Jason Kander for Senate ad: Background Checks
“Jason Kander, a Democrat, is challenging Republican Roy Blunt for his U.S. Senate seat in Missouri. And Kander will be getting plenty of attention for his cause thanks to this remarkable new campaign ad he just released in response to Blunt attacking him on the issue of guns. Kander, 35, is Missouri’s secretary of state. He also happens to be an Afghanistan war veteran. And his literally hands-on message about guns leaves quite the impression. Indeed, this is the kind of spot that can swing a race.” — Adweek
Special Elite, a rough but clear typewriter font, completes the raw, tough ad. The Univers Ultra Condensed Thin at the bottom complies with U.S. election disclaimer rules which require that candidate approval and funding sources be declared at a certain size: “in letters equal to or greater than four percent of the vertical picture height”. No weight or width is stipulated, however, which (like movie posters) leads to space-saving and/or unobtrusive font choices like this one.
2 Comments on “Jason Kander for Senate ad: Background Checks”
… or food origin signs in France.
For those interested in how rules and regulations affect aesthetics — in design, architecture, the urban space and elsewhere —, I recommend Severin Wucher’s book Das Gesetz und seine visuellen Folgen / La loi et ses conséquences visuelles (“The law and its visual consequences”; German and French), issued by Lars Müller Publishers in 2005.
Thomas Phinney has an article on his blog that mentions a spammer deliberately choosing a font like this since they were obliged to include a 12pt disclaimer text.
Also reminds me of Lavabit being forced to disclose its private keys and complying with a printout in 4pt type. The feds didn’t accept it.