Trump Campaign Yanks Logo Amid Poor Public Reception
Donald Trump’s campaign has yanked its original logo of an interlocking T and P with an American flag inspired striped background after a wave of unwanted social media attention followed its initial release.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign staff released the now-widely ridiculed logo in an email Friday shortly after announcing his choice of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate. It wasn’t long before the campaign logo went viral. Imaginations and social media accounts both went wild.
For some, the way the T penetrated the loop in the P was sexually suggestive.
“What’s the T doing to that P?” tweeted Former Michigan Rep. John Dingell, who is known for his sardonic sense of humor.
“This logo accurately represents what Trump Pence will do to America,” replied Florida congressman Alan Grayson.
What is the T doing to that P? https://t.co/tDvYm2QJYi
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) July 15, 2016
For others, the interlocking T and P looked like toilet paper on a roll, with the appropriate initials “TP” denoting it. In response, many amateur designs circulated the web such as one of the TP campaign logo drawn on a roll of toilet paper with the American flag stripes colored on the paper.
Professional web designers chimed in with their own criticisms of the provocative logo. San Francisco-based designer Matt Luckhurst, who is known for Facebook’s M app graphics, told Fox News the logo looked rushed and Trump’s campaign staff likely did not take the time to think over what might be the public reaction.
“I think it’s an oversight. I doubt they actually planned this,” Luckhurst said. “It’s something where they said good enough and they launched it out into the world.”
“I think that it’s very clear that Trump is the dominant partner in this relationship,” said designer Cyrus Highsmith to the Associated Press of the interlocking T and P. “The only thing I can guess is that Trump wants to make sure that everyone knows that he’s in charge. It’s totally in line with his personality.”
The latest modification scrapping the American flag themed TP logo will unlikely be the last, according to Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller.
“We have a number of logos,” Miller told CNN. “The final one won’t be unveiled until the convention.”
Some accused the Clinton campaign of plagiarizing a hospital sign, and others claimed it looked like the Wikileaks logo. Harsher critics of the logo, which Clinton still uses in her campaign, argued it was reminiscent of the infamous Al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center, as the vertical blue lines in the “H” resemble the twin towers and the red arrow conjures up the image of the hijacked airplane.
Though simplicity and symmetry are often touted as necessary components of a successful logo, is there a point in which you can become too simple and symmetric?
Graphic designer Aaron Draplin argues you can.
“A simple logo lends itself to comparisons, meme-style remixes, and rip-off allegations,” said Draplin in an interview with Wired. “It also invites the most tired form of graphic design criticism: people saying they could’ve done that themselves, and better, for less money!”
As the Trump campaign yanked its logo, social media enthusiasts have another reason to look forward to the convention, namely to see the “final” logo, giving them a whole new source of critique, commentary, and fun.
[Photo by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
