Over the 18 months prior to the 2008 Presidential election being decided , a chapter in American history played out that brought out both the best and worst of humanity. On the left, some of the country's most trusted and supposedly impartial media outlets were exposed as showing an imbalance of favorable coverage to Barack Obama (it became so obvious even SNL got in on it). Meanwhile, the GOP made much hay out of the now-president's middle name, used a lapel pin as a barometer for his patriotism, and, most embarrassingly, questioned the validity of his American citizenship.Eventually, America elected her first black President in Barack Obama. For a brief, shining moment, the politics of politics seemed to be laid aside. The polls were closed. The ballots were counted. All that remained was to swear the guy in. You felt an inexplicable buzz about the world around you. You spoke excitedly with co-workers, even if you'd never been much for politics before in your entire life. For the first time in a long time, people all over the country lined up to buy several copies of the next day's newspaper. At the offices of the Press, preparation for the special Inauguration Day issue were already underway. The task of creating a pull-out centerfold poster fell to me, likely due to my oft-overheard, heated-but-civil discussions with a staff photographer who was a democrat.
After much deliberation and hand-wringing, of wanting to get it just right, I finally decided that the moment itself was the best treatment. An AP wire photo of Obama waving at the crowd after his iconic Grant Park speech, with a suitable excerpt about America being a place were all things are possible. The design was all about letting history simply speak for itself, and needed only to be paired with the right treatment of type; Trajan Pro Bold for the name, Adobe Caslon Pro Semibold for the byline and callout. The Red and Blue in the President's name were taken from exact CMYK values for the colors in the American flag.
Alas, the original vision as seen here was not what eventually made its way onto the presses, issues with oversaturation of black arose. A less effective compromise was settled upon, (executed by a different staff designer) with the night sky in the background gradiating into a cloudy gray and then back to normal again to alleviate the amount of black color information.
