Jeb Bush’s campaign website: A review

Jeb Bush feelin’ the crowd. Photo: Joe Skipper/Reuters.

On Monday afternoon, Jeb Bush launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination with a crowd-rousing speech and the music of Latino songstresses. And just in case you didn’t pick up on the multicultural vibes, he also made it clear in his declaration speech, dipping in and out of Spanish. “In any language, my message will be an optimistic one,” the former Florida governor said on a stage at Miami Dade College. “Because I am certain that we can make the decades just ahead in America the greatest time ever to be alive in this world.”

That facility with languages seems to extend to Internet-speak, too. Starting Sunday afternoon, Bush’s online campaign was already well under way. He released the obligatory YouTube video alongside his logo: his first name, followed by an enthusiastic exclamation point (about which more later). Right before the event, his team partnered with Snapchat to broadcast his announcement via the app’s “Our Story” feature, which was accompanied by a fancy “Jeb Jumps In” geofilter.

Bush’s digital game is strong, but how does his website measure up to those of his competitors? Come look, as we explore the nooks and crannies of the presidential hopeful’s online campaign hub in the latest edition of RevURL.

Look and feel

The first thing you see when you arrive at Jeb Bush’s site is a photo of the smiling former governor palling around with some common folk. Look a little closer and you’ll notice that the photo has an Instagram-like filter (Willow? Hudson?) on it. Perhaps his campaign managers read that Yahoo Labs study that found that filtered photos boost engagement. Either way, it gives a very twee introduction to the candidate.

That vibe carries wherever you go on the site, giving the images the same nostalgic gloss that make Instagram photos so easy to look at. On the “Meet Jeb” page, the header image shows the candidate taking a selfie with some folks in a diner to make it clear he’s in with the times. Scroll down, and you’ll see collections of images from the past: moments from his wedding and early days as a dad — all cropped into neat little squares and spaced out evenly. It’s like your Instagram feed, but if you followed only your dad on Instagram.

Considering that Bush and his team went all-in on the vintage photos, his accompanying font game is pretty much on point. The majority of the site features a sans serif number named Futura, which was developed in the 1920s, and is therefore pretty old-looking. Its round, geometric shape offers a feeling of no-nonsense efficiency without seeming demanding. It works well with the persona he’s put forth as a nonthreatening middle-aged dude who tucks his polo into his khakis.

Logo

Bush’s logo only builds on the design choices made on the rest of his site. His logo is displayed in Kepler, a welcoming font that resembles something you’d see in the opening credits to an ’80s family sitcom. And, as many people have noted, his logo is just his three-letter first name and an exclamation point, hovering above a small “2016.” It’s pretty similar to a logo he used back in 1994, which immediately prompted the Internet to imagine the wording in all other sorts of outdated fonts. But if you think about it, it’s perfect for the nostalgia-hungry masses who go crazy at the news of a “Full House” reboot. Jeb Bush wants to seem nonthreatening and familiar, just like the “Friends” episode you put on in the background when you get home, but mostly ignore. I don’t mind the exclamation point either. [Full disclosure: Yahoo! made me say that.]

Text

The majority of the text on Bush’s site lives in the “Meet Jeb” section, which is written in first person from the perspective of Jeb. He describes how he met his wife in Mexico, what it was like to lose an election in 1994, and how he looks up to up to his dad, former president George H.W. Bush. Curiously, he omits any mention of his brother, who — as you may remember — was a pretty unpopular president!

I appreciate his campaign’s effort to make the required but often stuffy “about me” page more personal. But it was very long-winded, and not at all conscious that an online audience might want something more snappy. The page was also presented sloppily: Toward the end, two paragraphs repeat themselves. (You had one job, Jeb Bush copy editors. One job.)

And, like many of the other candidates, Bush presents his short biography as a stand-in for a dedicated “Issues” page, offering only vague affirmations that he’s dedicated to helping struggling people, creating jobs and praying.

I have to give him props for his 404 page, though. Decent pun!

Social media

Bush’s social media team created a smart pre-announcement buzz with the release of a YouTube video and his logo. And that carried on throughout the day, as his Snapchat Story filtered photos of proud mother Barbara Bush, captions that read “YAS,” and cracks at his Spanish.

In general, Bush’s team has a handle on the social media situation, posting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag: #AllInForJeb. The graffiti’d background framing that hashtag on his website, however, is questionable.

Rating

Four out of five exclamation points. I really would’ve preferred a “Rise” filter on that header photo.

Read the entire RevURL series here.