# What's Obama's serif font? (Do font questions go in Café?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257 "2008-05-31T13:28:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![happywaffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ee59a6/32.png) [@happywaffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happywaffle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/1 "2008-05-31T13:28:04Z")
I’ve successfully Googled and determined that Obama’s campaign uses Gotham for its signature sans-serif font ([yours for $199]([Fonts by Hoefler&Co.](http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_styles.php?productLineID=100008&cpuCount=1))). But I was trying to figure out what his serif font ([this one](http://www.barackobama.com/images/temp_flashheader.jpg)) is. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/2 "2008-05-31T15:33:41Z")
Don’t know…but whoever designed that banner needs to spend more time kerning. The “yo” pairs really bug me. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/3 "2008-05-31T16:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Don’t know…but whoever designed that banner needs to spend more time kerning. The “yo” pairs really bug me. [/QUOTE] Dammit. I could not tell what in the world you were talking about. So I looked up kerning on Wikipedia. I studied the examples. Then I looked at the Obama banner again. And now I see it. Oh God, I see it! I can’t make it go away! Some things are best left unlearned. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/4 "2008-05-31T17:46:41Z")
InevitableNomineePleaseGoAwayHillaryBold? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/5 "2008-05-31T17:50:45Z")
I’m not sure it will answer your question, but [here’s a bunch of background on the fonts used by the Obama campaign.](http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/to-the-letter-born/#more-164) ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/6 "2008-05-31T18:02:02Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Don’t know…but whoever designed that banner needs to spend more time kerning. The “yo” pairs really bug me. [/QUOTE] I’m glad I’m not the only type dork that noticed that. I know Photoshop isn’t the best program for working with type, but yeesh… it looks like they force-justified the first two lines, making W a s h i n g t o n all spaced out. And it looks kind of like Georgia to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/7 "2008-05-31T18:26:42Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Dammit. I could not tell what in the world you were talking about. So I looked up kerning on Wikipedia. I studied the examples. Then I looked at the Obama banner again. And now I see it. Oh God, I see it! I can’t make it go away! Some things are best left unlearned. [/QUOTE] I didn’t follow your wise advice. No, no, I followed your research steps and then went and looked. Grr. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/8 "2008-05-31T19:36:02Z")
Mwa-ha-ha! Don’t you just love the warm feeling you get when an evil plan comes to fruition? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/9 "2008-05-31T19:44:05Z")
[QUOTE=SanibelMan] I’m glad I’m not the only type dork that noticed that. I know Photoshop isn’t the best program for working with type, but yeesh… it looks like they force-justified the first two lines, making W a s h i n g t o n all spaced out. And it looks kind of like Georgia to me. [/QUOTE] No, it is Georgia, especially because of the 'o8 "I’M ASKING YOU TO BELIEVE. It’s probably Georgia with a different kerning scheme, as someone alluded to above. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/10 "2008-06-01T04:32:15Z")
It’s definitely justified with letterspacing and hanging punctuation. And yes, the kerning sucks. And the “Obama’08” is not the same font as the rest. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/11 "2008-06-01T04:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Don’t know…but whoever designed that banner needs to spend more time kerning. The “yo” pairs really bug me. [/QUOTE] I was going to say the _exact_ thing. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and the “I ’ m” really clinches it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/12 "2008-06-01T10:42:34Z")
You might try the [WhatTheFont](http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/) page, which automatically IDs fonts from sample images. I’ve had good results with it in the past. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/13 "2008-06-02T03:44:17Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] You might try the [WhatTheFont](http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/) page, which automatically IDs fonts from sample images. I’ve had good results with it in the past. [/QUOTE] Hey, thanks for that link–by doing a little poking around, I managed to find a font that a friend lost a couple months ago. She is going to be stoked. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/14 "2008-06-02T05:18:07Z")
[QUOTE=fiddlesticks] InevitableNomineePleaseGoAwayHillaryBold? [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/15 "2008-06-02T14:12:26Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] I didn’t follow your wise advice. No, no, I followed your research steps and then went and looked. Grr. [/QUOTE] I guess I’m happily ignorant, then. The banner looks OK to me. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/16 "2008-06-02T15:34:57Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] I didn’t follow your wise advice. No, no, I followed your research steps and then went and looked. Grr. [/QUOTE] As did I. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-obamas-serif-font-do-font-questions-go-in-cafe/451257/17 "2008-06-02T15:43:19Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] Don’t know…but whoever designed that banner needs to spend more time kerning. The “yo” pairs really bug me. [/QUOTE] Kerning isn’t typically done for non-display size type. It may be open to debate whether that particular YO is display size or text size, but it isn’t that large, and doesn’t bother me much. And I am pretty easily bothered by such stuff. Each to his own.