---

CLIENT

N/A

---

APPROACH

Design­ing Oba­ma was cre­at­ed to mark a moment in his­to­ry for the com­mu­ni­ty. This book, writ­ten by the Design Direc­tor of Barack Oba­ma’s 2008 Pres­i­den­tial cam­paign, pro­vides unique insight into the design and brand­ing of an uncon­ven­tion­al can­di­date. Rather than work with a pub­lish­er, he col­lab­o­rat­ed with the gen­er­al pub­lic through Kick­starter and self-pub­lished a high­ly-craft­ed arti­fact. The grass­roots sup­port­ers who backed this book estab­lished a new method of com­mu­ni­ca­tion out­side the pub­lish­ing indus­try’s vernacular.

Most would expect major problems to arise during the production of a book, but in fact the most challenging issues arose when it came time to shipping. Because Kickstarter lacked a shipping protocol, many backers did not anticipate shipping costs. Customer service became key in alleviating their stress and confusion. Distribution problems intensified when, after boxing, wrapping and taping 1,300 books and bringing them to the post office, we were informed of the many strict regulations for bulk shipments that we did not meet. All of this made the decision to make Designing Obama an iPad app an easy one.