We've Got GD Merch!

Plus the story of how GD POLITICS got a rebrand.

We officially have merch — and a whole new brand — thanks to the talented designer

Zach Litoff

. You’ll find the store here!

Zach is a San Francisco-based designer and podcast listener who reached out to me about a month after FiveThirtyEight shutdown to let me know that, while he was a fan of the new podcast, the branding could use some work. That launched us into a months-long process of creating new podcast art and a new logo that we liked enough to put on clothing.

Yesterday, Zach and I went live on Substack to share the process behind creating the new brand. He was new to the podcast design world and I was new to the branding world, but we had fun and learned a lot along the way. During the live-stream Zach shared his screen and walked through all the different iterations of the branding. As one example, friends told us that the first logo (second from the left on the bottom) looked too much like “GO POLITICS,” so we had to go back to the drawing board. We settled on the design on the top right.

I know many of you tune in to better understand the world of politics, but if you’re at all interested in design or want to hear what it’s been like behind the scenes at GD POLITICS during the first seven months, check out our conversation above. We had a blast chatting!

You’ll also hear the story behind the new merch, which I’ve been wearing around New York City while experimenting with different designs. So far no one has asked me why my hat says, “Goddamn politics,” on it, but I’m sure the day will come. (By the way, the logo on the final design is a bit smaller. It took a couple iterations to get it right!)

In any case, I hope you like the new merch. As a token of my appreciation, I created a 20 percent off discount code for paid subscribers, which you’ll find below the pay wall.

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween and is enjoying the weekend. We’ve got a big week in politics ahead of us!