Obama County? Lookalike logos ‘totally coincidental’

The Washington County seal closely resembles Sen. Barack Obama’s – but officials say there’s no political scandal here

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Oct 15, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

While giving a recent tour of the Washington County Elections office in Hillsboro, Tracie Krevanko was caught flatfooted when a young boy from the Forest Grove Community School asked her an odd question.

Why does the Washington County logo look like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s official campaign logo?

“I didn’t notice it until he asked,” said Krevanko, an employee in the county office.

But when she mentioned the comment to other elections officials, Krevanko learned that the front desk has been peppered with queries to the same effect over the past few weeks.

“It’s totally coincidental,” Krevanko said. “He chose something that looks like ours.”

True. It’s not that the county’s official logo looks like Obama’s, but instead, the other way around.

The Washington County logo, which features a sun rising over the wavy Tualatin plains, was created in 1986 by the county’s late graphic designer, Ron Talaga.

The Obama logo, which features similar circular symbolism but is cast in red, white and blue instead of the county’s tan and blue, was created for Obama’s presidential bid by a pair of Chicago-based graphic design firm. Though the county’s logo predates the Obama logo, no one’s crying plagiarism.

Anne Madden, a spokeswoman for the county’s land use and transportation department, said that the county logo’s ambiguity is part of its appeal.

It’s a heck of an improvement over the old county logo, Madden said, which was basically an outline of the county boundaries.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit