Weight Contrast Coincidence in Federal Election Signs

One of the biggest influences on my typographic sensibilities was the title sequence from the 1980s TV drama thirtysomething:

The all-lower-case, and the “weight contrast,” in the title card—a bold thirty contrasted with a light something—seemed fresh and new and entirely of the time.

Here’s what Carl Dair wrote about weight contrast in A Typographic Quest 5: Contrast (emphasis mine):

The weight of a letter may be described as the ratio between the black impression of the inked letter and the white background of the paper. Increasing the thickness of the strokes of a letter to make a type face darker was an innovation of the nineteenth century. None of the original designers of the classical roman letters ever contemplated a “bold” version of their letters. However, the eye-directing emphasis provided by bold versions of the standard types are commonly used as subheads throughout text. But beyond the mere bold weights, many types have extremely black versions, and in the contemporary sans serif faces, as many as six different weights of letters have been produced. These variations in weight provide the designer with a wide range of effective contrasts to achieve emphasis for a single word, to bring out a heading to dominate the text, or to create a focal point to draw the attention. Not only types of varying weight, but other typographic material such as rules, spots, squares, etc. can be called into service to provide a heavy area for a powerful point of visual attraction or emphasis.

I noticed a typographic coincidence this morning, presumably an unintentional one: the signs for candidates Sean Casey (Liberal) and Natalie Jameson (Conservative) are remarkably similar, and both use weight contrast in the rendering of the first and last name of the respective candidate:

The typography and layout of the Jameson sign are clearly stronger: the type is larger, the bolder is bolder. The type on the Casey sign is lost in a sea of red, and the eye is distracted by the Canadian flag in the top right corner.