Shade: A Tale of Two Americas centers on Pete Souza's career as a presidential photographer across two historic and starkly different presidencies. The brief called for a graphics package that could support the film's narrative without ever competing with the photography at its center. The challenge was designing around the work of one of the most recognized photographers of his era: the system had to honor his perspective, not impose one on it.
The design takes its cues from Souza himself. The visual language draws directly from the bold, clean sophistication of his published work, framing the photography with restraint and letting contrast between the two presidencies carry the film's argument. Title design, archival treatments, and motion all serve the images first.
