The Obama campaign included some of the best integrated graphic design I've seen in years. (The last time I was this impressed was the Sydney Olympics). Every single thing they did was gorgeous.
It's been chatted up on design blogs for many months now and has influenced designers worldwide. (Notice how much more you see the font "Gotham" in use right now - heck, I even find myself favoring it lately in my own designs).
First Hillary starting copying it when her campaign was tanking, then in the last months of the big race, even John McCain's people were trying to emulate it. But in the end, it was too late. Not only was it not as good, but they missed the boat on building the type of top to bottom, front to back consistency that the Obama campaign had.
Did the graphic design have a part in him winning? I believe it had a very big part.
There were many brilliant players in that whole process, but it started mostly with the design of the now very famous "O" logo. Here's a very interesting behind the scenes look at the entire process from Creative Director Sol Sender.
Part 1
Part 2
Bonus: A great Newsweek article on the whole topic.
