A collection of wild-eyed dreamers already have emerged with the hope of challenging Gov. Jan Brewer in the 2010 elections. No, I’m not talking about Terry Goddard or Jim Pederson or Andrew Thomas or J.D. Hayworth. The first official candidates are real longshots, the kind that media pundits have traditionally called political gadflies.
The best known of this group would be Roy Miller, a political blogger who helped to found the Goldwater Institute and is a frequent Tribune letter writer. Others who have filed with the secretary of state include church pastor Tim Willis, insurance agent Janelle Wood and business accountant Hugh Kealer.
But the candidate with the catchiest name and best campaign Web site to date has to be John Paul Mitchell, who is just 30 and a manager at a Phoenix credit card call center. He also has self-published a book which lays some groundwork to explain how we can run modern government in America without collecting any taxes (the ultimate libertarian dream!).
I am most intrigued by Mitchell’s “self-designed” campaign logo. Take a look.
It is pretty good. But Mitchell claims he came up with the logo “from scratch” after teaching himself how to use Adobe Illustrator. Really? There isn’t anything out there that might have inspired this design? Nothing that looks remarkably similar and has been seen around the world for the past year?
Mitchell told me others have noted the same similarity since he unveiled his logo earlier this month. While “partially inspired” by the Obama campaign logo, Mitchell gives more credit to the Arizona state flag and its sunrise colors.
“I wanted to choose a circular logo because anything with a circle represents wholeness,” Mitchell said.
So, do you think Mitchell’s logo is a flattering imitation or is he simply a copycat? You decide.
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In the world of commercial art, Mitchell’s logo is considered a smart design. It is clean, bold, and pulls the right emotional strings. Since there are millions of logo designs world wide it is rare to see a logo that expresses unique originality. Look at similarities of the flags of nations.
Ha, look at the East Valley Tribune logo.
I don’t think he’s copycatting all that much. I’ve seen much worse rip-offs.If you look at a range of political posters, they all look pretty much alike. I took more issue with the candidate in Gilbert that blatantly ripped off the UPS colors and logo for his campaign sign. I was truly offended he tried to sway our vote by using someone else’s credibility. What kind of message does that send about that candidate?
Frankly, I think Mitchell’s logo looks more like a logo for a health food company that I’ve seen on the grocery store shelves and less like Obama’s.
I’m not sure what John J. means when he says “look at the East Valley Tribune logo”. It’s pretty non-descript.
But maybe the point is that a lot of designs bear similarities. Indeed, Mitchell’s logo is clean and smart.
Just about every candidate wants to incorporate the AZ flag; then they gotta add some sort of other element to create an individual identity like that road graphic Mitchell uses. I’m just not sure what that means for him. Maybe he’s taking us up or down some road or it ’s a metaphor for the long journey ahead. Or maybe he just wants to fix the street in front of his house?
Anyway, using the circle is unique. Most just try to fit their stuff into a horizontal rectangle. So kudos for breaking out of the…er…uh…box.
I think John logo is great and memorable. I agree with the logo of the tribune, Nice a chile peper, Really???
I think John mItchell logo is bright and full of life and excited to see what he has to say
Check out the City of Chandler logo which predates both of them….
http://chandleraz.gov/