Graphic Design Hope

An appropriate topic of the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama, here's a Smithsonian Magazine interview and article about graphic designer/graphic artist Shepard Fairey. He's the guy behind the red, white, and blue Obama portrait -- called Hope -- that went viral during the recent US Presidential campaign. Beyond the politics, the artist talks about the thought processes that went into designing the graphic image and how it spread in popularity so fast (with and without his help).

More on Fairey and his work:

• Telegraph.co.uk article on a commissioned stencil/collage mural of Obama
• Wikipedia entry for Andre the Giant Has a Posse, a Fairey work from 1986
• Huffington Post blog describes the "Poster Boy of the 2008 Election" saying that "Fairey's image works because it's art, not branding, genuinely inspired and genuinely memorable and arresting, whatever your politics."