Campaign Design Review: McCain for President March 7, 2007
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Part 4 of my possibly tiresome campaign site review series finds us staring at the grim, unblinking visage of John McCain! The (mostly) black and white maverick of the campaign design world sure has its share of detractors. The monochromatic palette seems to evoke a love it or hate it vote. I happen to think it does not work, but that the site can look very solid with a few edits.
If the idea of the black and white design is a metaphor for strength of purpose or a stance on an issue (or issues), I understand that, but I think that any of those metaphors can be realized (as much as these design decisions can trigger an emotional response) with a much lighter and better-designed approach. My fix would be to add color to every obvious space within the interior real estate of the site. For example:
- The logo remains black and white, as does the background of the site including the flag imagery.
- The navigation can remain as is until mouse-over. Color could be introduced here in the nav field, not just the text, and the menu should open in that color as well.
- The left navigation/latest news fields and icons would all be in full color and the three very heavy bottom video invitations (Involving You | Informing You | Connecting You) could simply be full color versions of the existing photography.
- I would also make sure to put as much color as reasonable into the footer, and I would add the infamous DONATE button in its red glory.
My hope when I saw the first version of the site was that the black and white motif would give way to a full-bodied rendering once McCain announced and launched a full site. Dramatic entrance or something. Onward, minus any color remarks.
The structure of the homepage is fine with me and I appreciate the compact design here. The logo is strong and unique for a campaign logo and I assume the attached mark is the Silver Star, which McCain was awarded, and therefore cannot be questioned by a sissy like me. The flag background is pretty muted and therefore doesn’t offend. The universal navigation is easy to locate and use and the Undecided? navigation point is a fairly unique keyhole. Reads better than About John McCain, I guess. One point about the photography that I’ll mention; McCain is a mechanical, unnerving subject to view in some of these shots, and his people should realize that we understand that he’s serious about this. More shots of him smiling and or looking presidential. Less of him appearing as if to ask me my intentions with his daughter.
In conclusion, I think the site is problematic in this rendition because of the black and white template choice, but feel that it could be very strong if edited discreetly.
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Comments
You didn’t mention the biggest usability problem on the site: the fact that video starts playing unexpectedly when you rollover those bottom buttons. I don’t think you ever want to suprise/annoy users like that. To top it off, the videos really don’t provide real information. Bells and whistles for the sake of bells and whistles.
I really think the flag should show its colors. The ol’ Red, White, and Blue. And his first name should be part of the logo. Otherwise, it could be confused with the fish food company. The logo that is.
I see where the McCain team was going with this, and I’ve always thought a black and white color scheme would be a good one for a statesman candidate for President. However, the design is TOO black and not enough white.
Here’s the blog of the NY Times’ online design lead, Khoi Vinh:
Subtraction
This is an excellent use of black and white, with black being used for outstanding typography rather than background. Also, the use of orange for links is striking.
On a related note, I’ve also done a little review of sorts on McCain’s email strategy:
McCain’s Strange Emails
I still think if the interior real estate were dealt with in a much more colorful manner (including some white space)the black would be an effective and striking background.