Comments on: Peter Max Pick Me Up

By: Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:34:14 +0000

Peter Max was Bill Clinton’s designer-of-record for his first inauguration. Now that really takes you back, doesn’t it? I remember at the time wishing he had picked Art Chantry instead. Now, it seems pure luxury to even imagine a pres with a design brain. Make love.

By: alissa

alissa — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:27:54 +0000

Here’s one of the inaugural pieces Lupton is referring to. I don’t find this later style of Max’s very unique, and agree that electing Chantry would have been a better choice.

By: spence

spence — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:39:32 +0000

I don’t know; I kind of like the idea of the White House on fire.
And why limit Chandry to the Clinton years? This one seems relevant now: http://www.gigposters.com/posters.php?poster=8522

By: KCO

KCO — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 03:01:13 +0000

Speaking of political design (okay, slightly related to this topic), I heard a really interesting talk a few years ago by a design team from Texas who worked on a campaign for the Denver mayoral candidate John Hickenlooper, former beer entrepreneur. http://www.hickenlooperformayor.com [Check out logo & “Ad Clips” link]. From what I’ve seen (my former employer did design work for the Kerry campaign) and what I’ve heard, designing for a political figure is horrid. There is a group of people that make all the decisions and they are all stuck in old-world techniques. Is it in our future to have a president that thinks about design? I sure hope so but it seems very far off at this point. Please rescue me from the winter muck.