A team of Chicago graphic designers has given Barack Obama’s campaign its signature look. Sol Sender of Sender LLC and five others in his firm created the logo the Illinois senator is using for his 2008 presidential bid. The icon, a gradated blue “o” featuring three red stripes, is prominently displayed on Mr. Obama’s campaign Web site pages and featured on t-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers.

“We were looking at the “o” of his name and had the idea of a rising sun and a new day,” Mr. Sender said. “The sun rising over the horizon evoked a new sense of hope.” It’s a message that branding experts quickly latched onto.

“It begins to break with tradition while also rooting itself in tradition,” said Peter Krivkovich, CEO of Cramer-Krasselt advertising agency in Chicago. “Patriotism is the foundation, but above that is hope, opportunity, newness.”

David Morrison, president of Philadelphia-based market research firm TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., said the logo has "a nice, contemporary, dynamic, youthful vibe about it."

He said the shape and color of the logo “signals by design that Obama has a different message and wants to forge a different type of connection with the voters out there.”

Sender LLC landed the logo project through mo/de, a Chicago design firm working with AKP Message & Media of Chicago. Political consultant David Axelrod, who is working on Obama's campaign and worked on his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, is a partner with AKP Message & Media.

Mr. Sender said he is unsure if the logo will remain intact if Mr. Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

“I’m sure if he gets the nomination new things will be done,” Mr. Sender said.