What political design looks like in the U.K.
5 things I learned about political ads, merch, and design in the U.K.
American eyes, British political design looks just similar enough to seem vaguely familiar.
We use the same main colors ā excuse me, ~colours~ ā except opposite from the U.S., Conservatives there use blue and the liberal Labour Party uses red. The fonts look similar. They sometimes reflect American visual trends back to us, but filtered through their own visual culture and political system.
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I spoke with three British political design experts about what politics looks like in the U.K. Hereās five things I learned:
1. Political ads are designed for posters and leaflets, not TV
American campaigns spend billions on TV ads every election cycle, but in the U.K., all political advertising on television and radio was banned in 2003. Rather than TV-centric political ads, British campaigns are known for their posters.
āIn the U.K., when you speak to someone about great political advertising, itās almost always talking about posters,ā said Benedict Pringle, founder of political advertising.co.uk. āSome of the great political advertising, usually itās got some sort of visual pun in it because itās usually been designed for a billboard.ā
One of the most famous campaign billboards is āLabour Isnāt Working,ā a Conservative Party poster for the 1979 election showing a snaking unemployment line to criticize the Labour government.
The poster was the work of Saatchi & Saatchi, an ambitious London ad agency that rebranded Conservatives from stiff and posh into something more mainstream. The agency helped sweep Margaret Thatcher and Conservatives into power, and they revolutionized British political design.
The campaign was āthe first time that a political party had used a proper commercial advertising agency, and they have a very distinctive style to their advertising,ā Pringle said. Since then, individual British elections can often be defined by their most memorable poster.
āVisual ideas are a bigger part of political advertising and political design [in the U.K.] than what I see in the U.S.,ā Pringle said.
A 2001 Labour poster depicted Conservative leader William Hague with Thatcherās hair and the copy āBe afraid. Be very afraid.ā In 2015, Labour Leader Ed Milliband was shown in the pocket of former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, suggesting the Scottish National Party would have influence over Labour if there was a hung parliament. Conservatives went with boxing gloves in 2017 to hit Labour with accusations of ā1. More Taxes, 2. Higher Prices.ā
āSometimes the headline will use a pun or be slightly cryptic, and itāll be infused with a wry kind of humor that I suppose might make a powerful message in a kind of very sober, understated, slightly amusing way,ā said journalist Sam Delaney. āThatās very British.ā
British politics is also designed for leaflets left at peopleās doors. Leaflet trends have changed over the years, but one approach popularized by the Liberal Democrats is a tabloid magazine-style pamphlet that includes photos and stories about candidates, according to the BBC.
2. Itās centered on the party
American presidential candidates run as individuals, while British prime ministers get to office when their party or coalition takes the majority, the way the House speaker takes office in the U.S. That makes for a political visual culture thatās more centered on the party.
āEvery four years over there [in the U.S.] you can basically reinvent the brand. You can come up with the new image, new logo, new website,ā said Tom Edmonds, former Conservative Party creative director. āIn the U.K. weāre all basically legacy brands. Iāve changed a Conservative Party logo twice, and the furor is just unbelievable.ā
Both major parties have plant logos. Labour uses a rose icon, which is popular with leftist parties outside the U.S., while Conservatives have an oak tree logo that was introduced in 2006 to replace a logo of an arm holding a torch. Thereās not much deviation outside the party branding.
āEveryone stays in their lane design wise,ā Pringle said. āLabour is red and itās always red and any candidate whoās standing for election anywhere in the country at any level, whether itās local government or whatever, you can tell Labour a mile off.ā
Candidates will have their party logos on everything, Pringle said.
āQuite often, the central party will provide templates to use and theyāll be like, your name goes here, this is where the logo goes,ā he said. āSo itās really quite templated.ā
3. Trends are a few years behind the U.S.
The current home pages for the U.K.ās two main parties each use slogans used by Democratsā past two presidential nominees. Conservatives have President Joe Bidenās 2020 slogan āBuild Back Betterā and Labour has 2016 nominee Hillary Clintonās āStronger Together.ā
To be fair, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson actually used āBuild Back Betterā before Biden, but regardless, British political design today is heavily inspired by the U.S.
American trends makes their way across the Atlantic within two or three years, Edmonds said. For political professionals, pointing to what works in the U.S. helps get things greenlit.
āWhen I was with the Conservatives, the way you can get anyone to agree to anything is you say, well, Barack Obama did it,ā Edmonds said. āItās the easiest way to get people to buy into it.ā
The geometric sans serif look of American political type has influenced font choice in the U.K. āYouāll see the sort of big, blocky fonts,ā Edmonds said.
British campaigns have also followed Americansā lead on investing heavily in digital advertising and theyāve copied the style of American attack ads too.
āAttack ads in the U.K. have come to resemble more and more the classic U.S. attack ads on TV, you know, newspaper headlines, archive footage, the dramatic glass-shattering sound effects,ā Edmonds said.
Sometimes American political consultants get side gigs advising foreign campaigns, like former Obama strategist Jim Messina, who was tapped by Conservatives in 2017.
4. Merch is for inside the house, not the outside
āWhen Jim Messina came over, he said, ālook, if you guys want to make money, sell bumper stickers,āā Edmonds said. āIn the U.K., literally no one has bumper stickers.ā
In the U.S., campaigns sell items for supporters to show off their politics on the outside, like bumper stickers, yard signs, and hats. In the U.K., what sells are items that are much more private.
āThe two things that make political parties money, and theyāre so English itās almost embarrassing, is mugs for tea and tea towels,ā Edmonds said. āWeāve tried t-shirts, weāve tried bumper stickers, posters. Itās mugs and tea towels, and those are the two things people in Britain will buy and nothing else.ā
Though former rightwing UKIP leader Nigel Farage once wore a āMake Britain Great Againā hat, the U.K. doesnāt have the sort of political culture where a MAGA hat would sell.
āNo oneās her come up with the equivalent of the āMake America Great Againā baseball cap,ā Delaney said. āThereās something about the British electorate that would find that a bit cringe. They donāt want to be fed anything by a party, even if youāre a big supporter.ā
5. Patriotism is more restrained
āAmerican posters and ads are far more patriotic on both sides,ā Delaney said. āWhether youāre Democrat or a Republican, you will have the stars and stripes on your campaign posters and theyāre on everything.ā
The U.K. has a different relationship to its flag than the U.S., something best illustrated to me by Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell being cautioned against wearing her iconic Union Jack dress to the 1997 Brit Awards by a stylist because it could be seen as rightwing. Thatās why she added a peace sign to the back. That caution around the flag shows up in the more reserved way patriotism is displayed in British politics.
āThe Conservatives will use it more readily,ā Delaney said, but āyouāll notice things like they will never just have it as it is. They might do a slightly artsy version of the Union Jack, to soften it.ā
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