CR Blog
A hardback book and a PDF for Britain
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 13 April 2010, 9:21 Permalink Comments (27)
Covers of the 2010 manifestos for the Conservatives and Labour
Labour and the Conservatives have just unveiled their manifestos. The design of the documents tells us much about the image they each want to project in the run up to the UK general election...
In terms of formats, Labour's manifesto is at present only available from their website as a 78-page PDF; while the Tories' was initially presented as a hardback book of over 100 pages (available for £5) and also, from this morning, as a PDF (in viewer, below).
The Conservative Party manifesto in the PDF viewer
Labour's coverline, "A future fair for all", has an easy, homespun simplicity to it, while the Conservative's "Invitation to join the government of Britain" seems ever-so-slightly arch, a presupposition that this document will outline the path of the next Parliament. The line does hint at inclusivity, too, which is the main theme explored in an accompanying film, featuring Dave and three regular, hard-working British folks, up at conservatives.com.
Aesthetically, the manifestos could not be more different. The Conservative manifesto was designed by London's Perfect Day, who also created the illustrated poster campaign for the party. The Tories return to a darker blue hue, which feels defiantly more serious and weighty than the light blue and green wash applied to their current arboreal identity. While a hardback seemed to have been a strangely inflexible choice for an election document in the digital world, the PDF version takes the look of the book format online.
Conversely, the cover of Labour's manifesto recalls, on the one hand, the new dawn motif of socialist-realist propaganda, and on the other, the Come to the Suburbs London Transport posters of the 1930s and 40s. (In his cartoon in today's Guardian, Steve Bell implies that the green and pleasant land does perhaps appear to be at the mercy of a large explosion, however).
Inside – yes, we have looked through the whole thing – Labour's document contains little imagery other than some fairly straight-looking divider pages that echo the sunburst image used on the cover:
Illustrations from the Labour Party manifesto
The Conservative manifesto, however, has full page typographic illustrations throughout by Perfect Day (two shown, below) that belie the sobriety of the cover:
Illustrations from the Conservative Party manifesto
Interestingly, Saatchi & Saatchi worked with Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) on the design of Labour's manifesto and also on an accompanying 120-second animation that details the main themes in the document (see below) and how they will potentially affect the British family. The illustrations used in the cartoon have a certain charm about them, which is lacking from the illustrations in the manifesto document, and are clearly designed to encourage viewers to email the film on.
The web, of course, now plays a vital role in the political campaigns that surround an election. What's interesting here though, is how both Labour and the Conservatives are venturing into digital territory whilst remaining traditionalist with the look and feel of their manifestos. Labour's cover is an almost nostalgic paen to some verdant land we can all presumably return to; the Tories' is simply and straightforwardly a very serious looking, cloth-bound book.
As both parties are keen to point out: you be the judge.
UPDATE: The Lib Dems manifesto can be seen here. It's also available as an iPhone app.
Saatchi & Saatchi/RSA's animation supporting the Labour manifesto
27 Comments
The cover of the Labour manifesto reminded me of my Dad's stories of standing on a hill in rural Shropshire watching Liverpool being bombed when he was a kid during WW2. Must have a look at the Guardian cartoon!
2010-04-13 12:42:54
Mr Scruff?
2010-04-13 13:15:32
These could not be more different! WHAT was Labour thinking of with this cover? Its like their head has been buried in the sand! Looks more like a nuclear blast to me
2010-04-13 13:18:26
Shouldn't it be "a fair future for all"? It's plainer and more modern English.
2010-04-13 13:19:16
Both seem to have the design of the insides at odds with the design of the covers which doesn't inspire much confidence in the contents!
2010-04-13 13:21:53
pdf viewer not working in firefox on a mac - any chance of a link?
2010-04-13 13:27:23
the labour front cover reminds me of a packet of raisins, that's how the looked in Holland when I was tiny. Conservative front cover I think is just PLAIN (in many way) Dull!
2010-04-13 13:32:51
I've just downloaded the Conservative manifesto which weighs in at 77Mb for the high res version. A quick glance at the pdf may explain this; according to the pdf numbering the last page is page 1120! However, there only appears to be 131 pages in the document. Is this a pointer to how accurately they have done their sums on the economy?
Not found a similar slip in the Labour one but will keep looking
Mark Noad
2010-04-13 13:39:34
Seems like a missed opportunity to provide a genuine digital experience by publishing each manifesto as a browseable, searchable website.
2010-04-13 13:42:00
Labour's cover is appalling. The Conservative's cover is uninspiring.
I'd be the first to say you can't judge a book by it's cover but let's hope they put a little more effort into assembling their policies . . .
2010-04-13 13:42:51
It’s a shame that the conservatives cover is so boring, the typography bares no resemblance to the interesting poster like visuals in the inside, which actually work well
The labour manifesto feels like its trying to be to cute, almost over friendly, front cover looks like cereal packaging... rise and shine with labour... or should they wake up?
2010-04-13 14:12:40
I echo James's comment!!!! I think everyone should take this survey http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ to help them decide who to vote for... It's actually really interesting!
2010-04-13 14:14:15
What about the Lib Dem manifesto? Are they going to try to please everyone by designing a mix of the two?
2010-04-13 14:21:10
I've just downloaded the Labour Party Manifesto – I don't think I've seen such dire typography in a Labour Party communication for many a year. The Tories aren't much better. What's all this with the 1st line para indents AND para space. So 1980s advertising. At least they've made more of an effort with the imagery though. Enough to turn a life-long Labour supporter? If it was just down to the design of their manifesto documents, I might be tempted!
2010-04-13 15:04:49
In a public spirited effort to save money I have published the main intentions of all three of the main parties in one succinct image. You can understand it in an instant without having to wade through dozens of pages. It will remain true even after the election. These are the promises they are each totally and genuinely commited to so there will no campaign promises broken from this list. You can see it here http://www.imageconjurer.com/?p=596
2010-04-13 15:36:00
These Labour icons remind me of the Obama logos (but less well done) ... intentional?
2010-04-13 16:03:49
Just had a look at imageconjurer-I think the image conveys the message far better than words.
2010-04-13 16:37:57
Two completely different creative approaches, merely tricking us into assuming there are two separate parties to vote for. Labour are Conservative.
This is not a democracy at all. Either way we choose to vote, we have no choice but to vote Tory. We are doomed.
In the wise words of the great pop philosophers the Kaiser Chiefs, 'I predict a riot' ;~)
2010-04-13 18:22:40
bernie is not funny; bernie, go home
the conserv hard bound approach carries pleasing associations of solidity, firmness and quality, surely?
i like that, but then it hardly meshes with the interior and says [jumbled mess for a country in a state] more than [pleasing heterogeneity for a diverse society]
the only good aspect of the labour effort is the awkwardness of 'future fair' which puts a rhetorical stress on 'fair' that the alternative ('fair future') wouldn't do; the positioning of the type is bloody awful, though, and the scruffsaatch is so weak as to sit beneath further comment
god help us
2010-04-13 21:59:28
my paragraphing didn't go into the entry. c r blog! how on earth can you permit a comments engine which doesn't allow paragraphing? how did noady get his paragraphing? i'm really sad about this.
2010-04-13 22:02:27
The Lib Dems manifesto can be seen here: http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx
It's also available as an iPhone app: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/lib-dem-manifesto-2010/id358771534?mt=8
Mark Sinclair
2010-04-14 09:54:30
Whether Labour are presenting the right image or not remains to be seen. It may or may not matter. However, I think that the Labour Manifesto cover image is quite a GOOD re-working of the 1923 version. Looking towards the sun is good. The 1923 version was a much more 'blinding' sun and now could be 'read' as a post-atomic type sun. The current one is not exactly a blinding sun - but I'd have toned it down a bit so that the masses don't get the idea you are trying to fool them into thinking there's some kind of 'new dawn' on the horizon. (You wouldn't do that would you Mr Brown?) Also, the current version, with the man and woman standing side by side with their two children updates the poster from the 1923 version - which shows the man in the forefront and the woman and child in the background. I am guessing that the Guardian cartoon yesterday and others featuring condoms are to do with the unseen 'point four' of a child in the classic 'two point four children' family set up. Perhaps it might have been better to avoid the 'ideal' family grouping and go for 'one man and his dog' or a 'woman and a child' or a pair of (gay, obviously) lovers.To avoid leaving anyone out or upsetting anyone all of these should be mixed races/breeds - though I guess the dog could be a rare or pure breed. That might be allowed. Oh! And the headline could perhaps be changed to 'A future BLAIR for all' because I am sure Gordon Brown can't take all the credit or all the blame for the current political situation.
2010-04-14 12:00:16
From a copy point of view, what disturbs me about the Conservative front cover is that it's surely us who are meant to invite them to form a government, not the other way round. I've written an RSVP to that effect here: http://bit.ly/9EhJA6
'A future fair for all' sounds like an SEO writer's first draft. "We need to get 'future' and 'fair' in there – will this do?" On the other hand, 'fair' is a very powerful word – one of the first moral concepts children learn – so it's not a bad word to build your case around. The LibDems seem to agree.
The reversing of the adjective and noun is clearly meant to add a certain poetic resonance. It used to be a lot more common, but survives in phrases like "the Prime Minister elect", "the devil incarnate", and, erm, "chicken supreme".
2010-04-15 09:25:48
Actually, you can buy the Labour manifesto here: http://www.labourcampaignshop.org.uk/manifesto
Not too obvious on the website though. Looking forward to seeing the LibDem one as an iphone app. It's quite interesting to note that they have all embraced the future of publishing in slightly different ways. Labour have a pdf, the Tories are using issuu, and the LibDems have gone for an iphone app. As far as I am concerned, for political parties, that's fairly progressive. Although admittedly still miles behind where they perhaps could be (esp. with the pdf, although also available on 'computer sticks' as newsnight put it). Also, when purchasing the Tory one, you are led to a PayPal page that looks like it may belong to a Print-on-Demand-esque company. Anyone know anything about this? I'd like to point out that I have bought them all: not just Tory, no way.
2010-04-15 10:17:44
Just from a quick check over the manifestos yesterday:
The appr. reading age of Conservative manifesto is 10, the 1/2 columns and indented text allow rapid scanning. Key words/words >3 syllables are alliterated and placed rhythmically and in contrast (eg, mired/massive, millions/misery, communities/crime + shattered/abuse, people/public + rules/regulations, all balanced in the sentences). Typographic illustrations are excellent, though the way they are placed, introducing the topic on the next verso is a bit offputting. Infographics are simplistic and slightly misleading, but work.
The appr. reading age of Labour manifesto: 15, the 3 columns with no indents and tightly spaced text is difficult to scan, especially with the low number of characters/line. Key words bunched, repetition of longer words, not balanced in the sentences as they are in the Con. manifesto. Same body font, but not spaced as well, and the contrasting sans is horrible. Colours chosen don't seem great, and the illustrations are so-so. Very nice animation though, if a little cutesy.
2010-04-15 13:46:49
Another quick update: the Conservative campaign (manifesto, ads, posters) was designed by London-based studio, Perfect Day Mark Sinclair
2010-04-16 13:15:49
Well, one could say that this was a hollow victory for the conservatives. ;)
Both parties could possibly do with a better choice of designers. However, I do feel for them as there is no doubt that everything is on a tight deadline, so mistakes are likely to happen. Hence, the lesson learned is that for larger jobs, ie. a manisfesto of theis size, go with a larger company who has the resources to complete a quality job in a timely manner.
2010-12-31 01:26:35
Get the RSS Feed
Most recently commented
| Romain Gavras directs promo for M.I.A.'s Bad Girls (10) |
| Range Rover v Hadron Collider (9) |
| Fishing for customers (7) |
| Jerzy Treutler's Polish posters show (2) |
| John Whitney, Catalog, 1961 (1) |
Most read
| Farrow designs Format for PSB |
| Wordplay in Selfridges' windows |
| The £25 logo |
| VW: The Dog Strikes Back |
| BBC unveils redesigned Sport site |
Subjects
| Advertising | (1034) | |
| Art | (388) | |
| Books | (248) | |
| Digital | (407) | |
| Graphic Design | (1120) | |
| Illustration | (624) | |
| Magazine / Newspaper | (196) | |
| Music Video / Film | (706) | |
| Photography | (355) | |
| Type / Typography | (247) |
