They are seen repeatedly on TV commercials, front lawns and social media. They can inspire a generation of voters or become the butt of a joke on the campaign trail (Sorry, Jeb!). For political candidates, from city hall hopefuls to Capitol Hill contenders, the logo has been the linchpin in campaigns for decades.

That remained true during the 2018 midterms. In an age of shortened attention spans, how a candidate signals political identity with color and typography is more important than ever, graphic designers say. And a look at more than 900 congressional candidate logos shows the variety of those identities.

The collected logos, from the Center for American Politics and Design, a New York-based design research group, showcase political design on a national scale.

Susan Merriam, founder of the Center and a brand strategist at Graj + Gustavsen, said she started the collection from her fascination with the competing branding work done by Rep. Carolyn Maloney and her opponent, Suraj Patel, during the Democratic primary race in New York’s 12th Congressional District.

“The logo archive demonstrates the scale of the U.S. election in a way we rarely see, akin to a single field of grass with a country’s worth of lawn signs,” she said. “I wanted to see what was happening elsewhere in the country and to see if there were larger trends at play.”

Among the trends: An overwhelming number of Democrat and Republican candidates used blue as the predominant color in their logos.

Jay Williams, founder of the Stoneridge Group, a political campaign marketing firm in Alpharetta, Ga., said blue is closely associated with a buttoned-up government vibe: Think blue blazers and blue Oxford-cloth shirts. It’s seen as a safe color, especially by his Republican clientele.

“They will never get in trouble for using blue,” he said.

The Center’s collection reveals plenty of candidates, including first-time contenders and the legion of women running for office, deviated from a patriotic aesthetic. Red, white and blue is tried and true, but also, well, tired.

“This was the year the Democratic candidates were energized,” said Bruce Willen, co-founder of Post Typography, a creative studio with offices in Baltimore and New York. “So many outsiders running and people who’ve never ran before [who] were willing to take risks.”

Several campaigns stood out for their bold choices of color, including those of U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, Reps.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.).

For some designers, there was a sense of freedom to take risks.

Ocasio-Cortez hired Tandem NYC, a New York-based design studio and a team she knew during her days working as a bartender in Manhattan, for her visual branding.

The Tandem team wanted to convey the first-time candidate’s progressive message while grabbing the attention of New York’s 14th Congressional District, which spans the Bronx and Queens boroughs. Ocasio-Cortez faced now-outgoing Rep. Joseph Crowley, the district’s longtime incumbent.

That led senior designer Maria Arenas to create an unconventional look: a dark purple and yellow palette, paired with a photo of Ocasio-Cortez that harkens to a film poster one would find in a New York subway tunnel.

“The campaign really trusted us to take these risks because they felt that we truly understood them,” Arenas said.

Tandem NYC’s design also included bilingual text as a way to reach Hispanics in the district and reflect Ocasio-Cortez’s Puerto Rican heritage.

“We felt that putting Spanish on the same level as English, visually, was a subtle way to show that Spanish speakers are not an afterthought,” Arenas said. “We see you, and we’re communicating to you, and we’ll listen to you.” Experimenting with color, including the absence of it, also found its way to the U.S. Senate race in Texas.

While Republican incumbent Ted Cruz recycled parts of a logo he used in 2016 – this time with a new slogan – O’Rourke went with a simpler design: his first name in black and white.

“He kind of stressed that we use colors no one has done before,” said Tony Casas, creative director of Stanton Street, an El Paso-based design company, in an interview with the Dallas Morning News.

The logo, online sleuths noted, reminded them of a spicy ketchup packet from Whataburger, a southwestern fast food restaurant chain.

The likeness is a “pure coincidence,” Casas told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and it worked for the campaign.

Then there’s the symbology. Candidates love stars, stripes and state outlines – sometimes all three. More than half of the campaigns incorporated a star in their designs, according to the Center’s collection.

Minnesotans running for office were particularly state-proud and found ways to incorporate the state into their logos.

Some candidates tied symbols from previous occupations or personal points of pride, such as medals and fighter jets for military veterans, to their political identity. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) put his mustache at the forefront of his logo. It’s his signature look, in person and in past campaigns.

Rep.-elect Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) included a bison in her logo as a homage to her experience running a bison farm.

And some candidates couldn’t resist saying, “Hey! My name is my color!”

The new energy for what the Center calls “the graphic vernacular of American politics” has been driven largely by Democratic candidates, according to designers who work with both parties.

Ben Ostrower, founder of the D.C. design firm Wide Eye, has worked with progressive campaigns and nonprofit organizations for nearly a decade, most recently with Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and outgoing Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).

“This is probably the first cycle I could remember that this is a conversation people want to have,” he said, of the heightened interest around political logos. “That’s a really exciting thing.”

Williams, of the Stoneridge Group, agreed that experimentation by Democrats overshadowed that of Republicans.

“They are the SEC football of design, and Republicans are the Pac-12,” he said. “They’re really good at it.”

Williams has convinced some of his Republican candidates to step outside the lines, pointing to work his firm did for Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) in 2016 and, more recently, John Warren, a conservative veteran who ran for South Carolina governor.

Williams said he hopes a younger class of GOP candidates can spur more risk-taking and innovation in their branding that’ll match, or even surpass, Democrats.

“Over time, it’s gonna happen with Republicans,” he said. “In 10 years ... the entire design ecosystem will be different.”

But, in the end, design can’t deliver what a candidate doesn’t have, said Willen, of Post Typography.

“Voters are smarter than people give them credit for,” he said. “If a brand or candidate feels too manufactured, they’re going to tune it out.”