As we did for the 2022 French presidential election, we’ve reviewed the companion portraits of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for the 2024 US presidential election.
In fact, only one “official” poster can be found on either candidate’s website, while there are dozens of representations on the web, created by third parties to support their candidates, illustrate articles or simply make money.
The posters of the two contenders for the American throne are clearly opposed in both form and content.
The official Kamala Harris poster
In this warm campaign portrait sold on Kamala Harris’ website, the dominant blue color of the Democratic Party and the candidate’s ever-present smile are logically displayed.
The visual was created by illustrator Tracie Ching using a photograph from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s image bank.
If we take a closer look at the facial expressions, the smile is closer to a laugh, and the eyes look up, as if looking at someone in a knowing way.
The words we would associate with this portrait would be JOY, ADMIRATION or HAPPINESS.
There’s a slight gap between the slogan and this Épinal print, which lacks any real force or conviction.
With this promise of “FREEDOM”, we’d expect a slightly more rebellious and perhaps more frontal look.
The choice of photo on which this poster was based was not necessarily the most appropriate for the political message it conveyed.
Tracie Ching had previously produced two posters in the same vein for the Democrats: one for Joe Biden’s 2021 nomination, and the second for his running mate Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential campaign.
Obey Giant’s unofficial portrait
Artist Shepard Fairey, known under the pseudonym Obey Giant, who created the landmark poster for Obama’s victorious 2008 campaign, has decided to offer his stylized portrait free of charge in the summer of 2024 to support Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Obey was able to reinterpret the image below by the Democratic White House photographer, taken during Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, softening Kamala’s expression and keeping the intensity in her gaze to match the slogan.
Donald Trump’s official poster
With his usual closed face and firmness symbolized by a raised fist, Donald Trump appears in black and white with his signature, against the red and blue backdrop of the Republicans.
The political message illustrated by the slogan and photography is consistent, and the TRUMP brand is in the spotlight. Simple, effective communication for his supporters.
This point-and-shoot portrait is also used in color, originally on social networks with a slogan positioning him as a victim of the system, and now sold for his presidential campaign in the form of a photo montage with an American flag.
From mugshot to mug…
Pouting is second nature to Donald Trump, as evidenced by his most famous portrait, taken under very peculiar conditions…
It was taken by American police during his arrest in Fulton County, Georgia, in 2023.
This mug shot caused a buzz on social networks before ending up on advertising Mugs to help his campaign for the 2024 US presidential election.
The portrait with the words “Never surrender” is available in black and white, in its original color version, and in a vague imitation of the Obey Giant style mentioned above.
Unofficial illustrated portraits of Donald Trump
On the outside, Donald Trump’s Republican campaign does not benefit from illustrators as prolific or talented as his rival. Despite this, illustrations of his campaign can be found in image banks.
To choose an image that doesn’t do him any disservice, we’ve chosen the simplest, which inserts his profile as a Chinese shadow in the official TRUMP “Make America Great Again” cartouche.
In the press or on news websites, we can find visuals that are close to our communication style, such as the following image found in an article on the site axios.com
Portrait illustration with Trump and Harris together
Many visuals for the press and news sites feature the two candidates in illustration.
We have selected this quality portrait drawn in pencil by illustrator Oriana Fenwick for the foreignpolicy.com website foreignpolicy.com.
