I just want to give some recognition to the best design work of the NZ election campaign thus far, and it has come from an unexpected source – the Green party. The Greens don’t have a history of excellence in the visual design stakes, and their hoardings for the last election were (IMHO) pretty damn ugly:
The whole series of 2005 billboards is visible here.
This year, they have put some serious resource into the billboard campaign – either that, or they’ve stumbled across an exceptional designer willing to work for cheap. Everything about their ’08 boards is on point. Check out this one, which was the first one I saw:
It’s perfect stuff – the composition of the image is great, the broad horizon speaks to the Green’s themes, even the demeanour of the model is well-placed. The simple, simple, simple message is genius. And I love the typeface of the key message (although I would have preferred the “vote for” typeface to match). Best of all, it works on the big scale – it looks fine on the screen, but enormous on the side of a building it really throws weight.
It’s great to see. Billboard design has symbolic importance for this election, thanks to the role played in the 2005 election by the highly contentious (and very well-designed) “iwi/kiwi billboards”. Sure enough, googling up the images for this post has turned up much interest and praise, some of which is summarised here at FrogBlog. Labour partisans The Standard even fear these billboards are too slick!
I think this is a significant step up in game that the Greens need to make if they want to make it happen this election. They have clearly decided internally to campaign on the “vote for your children” line, which seems like a risky choice to me but executed this well they might pull it off. I’m impressed with these billboards, and their new leader Russel Norman is giving a good account of himself (even though he seems to be hated in the house?). You go, Greenies.
7 thoughts on “Green Billboards 2008”
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Hmm. Whatever the merits of the graphic design, campaign billboards are nothing more than advertising, giving absolutely no substantive information. As such, they’re part of a blight on and in our society, and should not be permitted.
Really? You like them? I think they’re smug and self-righteous. But I’ve just come back from a five-day visit to my parents, so admittedly I’m in a very bad mood.
You like them? Really? Me, I just think they’re kinda smug and self-righteous.
Jamie – well, yeah, I agree in principle, but if we have to live in a world with advertising billboards (and I think they’re close to inevitable as a consequence of human information processing) then these suit me just fine.
Heather – disclaimer: I’m a Green voter by tradition now, so that no doubt colours my perceptions. But yeah, I like them. I admire them too. Smug and self-righteous? I don’t really see it – except as a reflection of how these billboards channel the Greens political rhetoric and all relevant associations, perhaps.
I like them too. Put ’em alongside a huge-ass picture of Helen or John (emblazoned on party red or blue) and they stand up very well, IMO.
I was really impressed when I saw them for the first time the other day, they are much nicer to look at than John Key’s ugly mug 🙂
Hmmm, not sure what happened there, but that page at The Standard gave me a virus and killed my ‘puter.
So, watch out people, make sure you’ve got protection when heading there…