National Urban League 2014 State of Black America

The 2014 State of Black America, titled One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America had a very strong focus on exploring paths to entrepreneurship and getting unemployed Americans back to work. We highlighted the pledge of allegiance with the cover photo—the man holding his hand over his heart—to focus on the struggle of many Americans who are un- or underemployed. The title treatment is also a nod to the American flag, and the bars of the copy are a subtle representation of a bar chart showing declining numbers.

Throughout the book, we included graphic elements from the cover and let the type be a large, dynamic element in the design. We also wanted to tie the book together by using close-up photos of hands—working class hands, the hands that are building America every day—instead of using only photos of people working. All of this together was a much more modern, bold and conceptual approach than NUL has used in the past, and they loved the design (as did we at Untuck!)

(Work done at Untuck Design with John Saal & Amy Saal)