The other day I got a message from a visitor who, using very colorful language, was upset that I was writing about politics on my web design site. I can understand the concern over mixing politics with business, but my site is also a personal one, so I feel inspired to blog about pertinent and timely issues.

However, in thinking it over, I feel that I should hardly have to explain myself, as today’s politics and web design are integral to one another. And, in case you aren’t sure how, let me explain.

my.BarackObama.com has more than 500,000 registered accounts and over 30,000 user-created campaign events, with more than 1.7 million visitors in the month of January alone†. Obama has made a historical and unprecedented push into cyberspace, where he has reaped the benefits of social networking, blogging, and liberal media. All, let me remind you, would not be possible without the web designer.

Now, I’m speaking a little broadly here when using the term “web designer.” For some, this means developing the aesthetic properties of a website, but for many, this also includes programming code, developing tools, and structuring networks.

Suffice it to say, all these elements have come into play to develop Barack Obama’s website. Behind the blue veil exists a complex system of coding, graphics, media, networking, and analysis. And this goes for all websites, not just one as successful as Obama’s.

And it doesn’t just end there. Blogging has seeped its way from the internet underground to the political spotlight, gracing every major news outlet there is. Reporters and pundits can share political opinions and stories at whim. And, acting as the face of all these blogs exists a website. A portal that allows information in and out, arranging and outputing into a composition that makes up an individual or corporate identity.

I would argue that web design has just as much to do with politics as a campaign ad has to do with the politician who endorses it. Web design is another medium by which politics attempts to represent and/or brand itself. We’ve come a long way from buttons, stickers, and signs.

In reality, my website is simply inverting the system, where web design makes up the bulk and politics remains an embellishment.

Tags: 2008 election, Obama, politics, web design