Trump's 'Make America great again' hats were the opposite of traditional campaigning - and that's how they became iconic
Getty/Mark Wilson
But how they came together is a mirror of Trump's campaign itself, according to a CNN chronicle of the hat's genesis. Much like the campaign was put together with minimal thought to its design, so was the hat.
"It was undesigned," Lindsey Ballant, a designer and adjunct professor at the Maryland College of Art, told CNN. "It didn't represent what one thinks of when you think of traditional politics in terms of visual messaging, and that's essentially what Trump was as well."
The hat is merely a plain trucker-style cap in primary colors (plus camouflage) with some contrasting lettering in a Times New Roman font. In short, there's nothing groundbreaking about the hat's design as is, but that's not to say its success was an accident.
It represented a foil of Trump's political opponents, and this simplicity was stark in the face of his opponent Hillary Clinton's highly orchestrated campaign.
"In contrast, Hillary's campaign was incredibly thought out. It was elaborate. There was a whole system driven around the simplicity and the beauty of the logo mark," Ballant told CNN.
Getty/Drew Angerer
It certainly had some type of strong appeal, even to Trump's opponents. Groups who didn't support Trump's campaign put their own versions out, like the Human Rights Campaign's "Make America LGBTQ again" hat in blue.
There was even a period in 2015 before Trump's candidacy seemed like it would be successful when the hats were worn ironically in the hippest enclaves of liberal cities, according to the New York Times.
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