Josh Thompson

Election campaign branding and visual identity for for mayoral candidate.

Black designed a striking visual identity for Josh Thompson that would engage a new generation of voters. The hashtag was chosen as the icon to represent a digital guidepost, a call to action, and symbolize a movement.

Client

Josh Thompson 4 Mayor

Year

2016

Services

Visual Identity, Political Campaign

#JoshForMayor

Big cities need new thinking. Josh Thompson is only 31, but has devoted his life to public service. Concerned that NYC was treading water – Josh decided to challenge the incumbent mayor for the Democratic nomination. Josh knew that the issues he cared about school vouchers, charter schools and merit pay for educators resonated with voters despite being controversial. As an underdog – he wanted a striking visual identity to help break through the clutter and get recognized.

A hashtag is a type of label or metadata tag used on social media and microblogging services.

Initially they were the secret language of youth. Now they are universal identifiers of people, places and ideas. Hashtags represent a digital guidepost, a call to action – or symbolize a movement – and campaigns are movements.

Black wanted to capture the refined and youthful identity of the candidate by developing a recognizable icon that would survive the test of time. Win or lose – this project proved that candidates shouldn’t play it safe and that people are consumers before they are ever voters.