Design experts have trashed President Donald Trump’s tacky attempts to stamp his personal brand onto the White House after a garish gold sign was spotted outside the Oval Office earlier this month.
“This sign looks like s–t,” Rep. Malcolm Keynetta wrote on X after the ornate typeface, resembling a ‘Live Love Laugh’ sign, appeared outside the only exterior entrance to the Oval Office on November 5.
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester agreed, responding to the announcement by writing, “I wish they would focus on helping struggling Americans, but this isn’t a good sign.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, responded by posting a doctored photo of the sign in his now-typical style.
Although derided in design circles for its pretentiousness and tacky attempts to project fanciness, the Shelley Script remains Trump’s hand-picked typeface of choice as he pursues his aggressive remodelling of the White House with the same fervor as his domestic and foreign agenda.
“Trump typography is very consistent with many other things about the president,” type designer Thomas Phinney told the Washington Post. “Whether you think those things are good or not is another question, but I think it’s part of a consistent package.”
The script, similar to but not identical to the branding at Mar-a-Lago, is traditionally used as a cheap means to project an air of elegance. “I’m sure I’ve seen it on a restaurant menu, for instance,” Phinney added, and said it was often seen on wedding invitations.
“Shelley is accessible, but it’s kind of pedestrian amongst the scripts,” said former White House chief calligrapher Rick Paulus, who sighed when shown a picture of the Oval Office sign.
“There’s incredibly little signage of any sort in the White House,” he told the Post. “It’s a house. It’s not a hotel. It’s not a club.”
Paulus, who oversaw typeface and lettering duties at the White House during the George W. Bush and Clinton administrations, says the fact that the president is devoting any time at all to such a relatively trivial task shows the level of importance he attaches to stamping his mark on every part of the historic building.
“If he’s spending even 10 hours meeting with people about this stuff, that’s 10 hours he should be dedicating to something else,” he added.
“What Trump is doing is he’s branding his presidency, his occupancy,” typography historian Paul Shaw told the outlet, critiquing the font for being “historically too light and weak for signage,” and claiming it works better on paper, rather than walls.
Nevertheless, the font can be found draped all over the newly-Trumpified White House, where it is emblazoned on the “Presidential Walk of Fame,” alongside a picture of Joe Biden’s alleged autopen, and on the ‘Rose Garden Club,’ formerly the White House’s historic Rose Garden, which has been transformed into a replica of the patio at Mar-a-Lago.
The upcoming White House Ballroom, which will be constructed following the demolition of the East Wing, will also presumably be emblazoned with the font.
“I’m not crazy about that font” says Trump-supporting graphic designer Tim Cramer, who runs a conservative design agency that doesn’t work with “companies that promote woke.”
“It’s high-class. It looks fancy. But it’s not utilitarian. It is just the opposite of what it is being used for.”
Trump’s remodelling of the White House has proven to be one of the most unpopular aspects of his presidency so far, with an October poll showing that more than half of Americans opposed the destruction of the East Wing.
Still, others remain cautiously optimistic about the implications of the new Oval Office sign. “Good, new signage means he won’t knock it down,” said Florida congressman Jared Moskowitz after the unveiling.”
When asked about the Oval Office sign, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast, “President Trump is making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves. Only the Daily Beast and people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.”
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