How Bernie Sanders Built a New Visual Language for Democratic Socialism
Sanders’ logo is distinctly Americana, but is that enough to convince Americans to buy in?
By Hunter Schwarz
Bernie Sanders’ campaign logo is one of the defining visual representations of socialism for many Americans, but look a little closer, and it rejects some of the most well-known tropes of socialist design. The standout color of socialist images is red, while the Bernie wordmark is most often set in blue. The wavy lines in Sanders’ logo are reminiscent of a toothpaste brand, and they stand in stark contrast to the sharp angles and shapes seen often in socialist posters. While socialism is sometimes described by critics as un-American, Sanders’ logo is pure Americana.
Sanders’ branding attempts to introduce a new kind of visual vocabulary for democratic socialism, one that deviates from the popular image of what socialism is supposed to look like. It imbues his candidacy with a sense of familiarity and accessibility, and suggests his ideas are as American as it gets, despite detractors who say otherwise. “It’s important to remember Bernie Sanders at the time, first of all, was not as widely known a figure as he is now,” said Ben Ostrower, founder of the creative agency Wide Eye, who designed Sanders logo in…
