Above is a political poster used by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the 1984 presidential race. By looking at a combination of the colors, positioning, and lines within this poster, we see the feeling of warmth and charm that Ronald Reagan created to touch the hearts of American voters, which is important because we had gone through a tumultuous period before him. Americans had already spent four years with him and he wanted to continue working on everything that he had been by achieving re-election.  

The colors that are used in this poster create a very warm feeling. They all have deeper meanings that would make one want to elect Reagan as president. The peach of the background is known to be charming. The background color reflects Reagan’s personality as he was known to be very charming. Reagan used his charm to win many voters over. In this specific election, he won forty-nine of the fifty states. Charm most likely had a lot to do with this, in addition to his ideas and plans for the following four years. The peach can also signify immortality, in specific, the immortality of the United States. During the 60s and 70s, the country hit a really rough patch. The country was down for the count, but it did not let the tough times keep it down. Reagan wanted to bring it back to it’s eternal greatness that started with our founding fathers. The blue represents the stability that would be renewed to the country if Reagan were given four more years to work for the people of the country. The red displays the desire of the country to be the best that it can be. The United States has always been known to have a lot of pride in itself, so when we were not at our strongest, we had the want to be. The white signifies the renewal that the country as a whole was working towards to get back to our original values and morals. During the movements of the sixties and seventies, we strayed from our founding morals, but the eighties under Reagan were a time of rediscovery and renewal of them. The colors of this poster all lend a hand to the overall deeper meaning of it. 

The positioning of the different figures on this poster are very important. They map out a story and show Reagan and his ultimate goals. The biggest image of Reagan is dead center on the page. This shows that he is the most important aspect of the whole image. The fact that he is looking straight ahead, as if he is staring at the person viewing the poster, and smiling, shows him as a welcoming and personable entity. It makes him seem like the type of person a citizen viewing this would like having coach their child’s little league team or to be their local butcher. It makes him seem relatable, instead of being viewed as a big movie star turned politician that no one feels connected to. Reagan’s head being tilted up in the smaller picture shows him looking to the bright future of the nation he was currently leading and wanted to keep leading. The picture of Bush shows him conveying his and Reagan’s ideas to the people. These were ideas that the two of them deeply believed in and that they believed the American people should believe in too. The little picture of the White House represents the ultimate goal of returning to the promised land. The White House is a dream for many Americans, that few are lucky enough to actually achieve. So, for Reagan and Bush to make it there twice together would be an ultimate dream for many citizens. The positioning is very important because it shows where they started from to where they want to end up. 

The lines show many different perspectives in this picture. The lines are all very soft which helps to add to the warm and welcoming aura of the poster overall. The flag in the background does not have any hard corners, which gives off the effect that it is waving and drawing one in. The viewer is drawn to Reagan in the middle. His gaze is out of the poster towards the person viewing it. This seems very inviting. There is a line going from the corner of the White House through Reagan to Bush. This signifies that it takes the teamwork of the both of them to end up in the White House. The line coming from smaller Reagan shows him looking up at the brightness of what’s to come if he is re-elected. The whole poster shows a very bright outlook on what was ahead when Reagan and Bush were re-elected. 

This poster is very warm and welcoming. I has a way of appealing to the senses of a concerned citizen that may be looking to vote for them. The colors that were used embody everything that was Reagan and his ideas and wants for the United States. The positioning of the images on the poster outline where Reagan started in the political world and where he wanted to end up again. The lines of the poster are soft and inviting. They also show different connections between the images on the poster. These are all very important because they show how Reagan wanted to help the country move through a rough patch that it had hit before him. 
