Have you been posting photos of the debate banners in the Athletic Complex and the lighting of Brookings Hall all over social media?

If so, you’re doing exactly what the Office of Public Affairs wants. The visuals for the debate are designed to be photographed and videoed—by both phone and TV cameras.

Rather than focusing on small graphics, Public Affairs decided to focus on a few larger images, most notably the many large banners that can be seen through the AC’s glass windows and the stars-and-stripes lighting display projected onto Brookings Hall’s exterior.

Final touches are put up in spin alley in the new Sumers Recreation Center.

Even though Washington University has focused resources toward designing debate graphics, the University has little control over the design of the debate hall itself.

“The Commission on Presidential Debates actually owns its own stage, and they are completely in control of what happens in the debate hall. Almost all Wash. U. was able to do was we were able to hang a Wash. U. logo in there, which probably won’t appear on camera,” Public Affairs Senior Creative Director Tracy Collins said.

National media outlets will be shooting from other locations around campus, however, and the University has purposefully chosen to brand certain locations for maximum impact.

Collins said that the Brookings lighting—which is something new for this year’s debate—will likely be the image remembered after the debate.

“What we think will sort of become the signature visual of the whole event is the lighting of Brookings Hall,” Collins said.

The primary graphic used for the debate has historically been created by a Washington University student, and that tradition continued this year, as senior and Public Affairs intern Sherry Xiao designed the primary image last fall.

Still, the imagery for this debate does differ from previous years, as Xiao’s logo is focused more on the presidential debate as an event, rather than on branding the University itself.

“In the past, they wanted to make sure that in any direction the camera posted, they saw a Wash. U. logo, and I think they still will get that, but this time it seems more like cameras will see event branding and not just a Wash. U. logo,” Collins said.

Collins also noted that the imagery used for the debate must use a mostly even amount of red and blue, as the University does not want to unintentionally appear partisan.

“The overall effect had to come across nonpartisan, so that’s been an important part of this,” Collins said. “There’s such a red vs. blue thing among political parties that the effect had to come off as completely nonpartisan.”

Ultimately, Public Affairs hopes its branding will photograph well and create excitement for University students, staff and faculty.

“Part of this was for our own community, and that’s why all around the Danforth Campus, and even the South 40, there are pole banners that have the debate logo on it. So, there are places where we have done it where we chose to do it for own community, but most of the biggest gestures were done for the TV cameras,” Collins said.