Resilience, dedication, courage, diversity, opportunity, freedom and innovation. These are words that describe the United States. You don’t have to be steep into politics to know that we are a divided nation. Perhaps we have been for many years, but the words listed above are words we can all agree on to describe the United States, and it’s these words that I was provided to create the look of the campaign to save the USS United States. Personally, I had never heard of the United States. When my client provided me with a link to the media I would require to complete the campaign, I spent hours looking through the old photos, watching the faded news reels. I saw black and whites of celebrities from times gone by, and faded color photos of families waving from the decks of the ship to the docks below. Then I came to a folder titled “recent photos”. Here were scores of images of what looked like something from an urban explorers trip into an abandoned shipwreck. Paint was peeling, rust and decay were slowly taking over the ship, creeping along metal railings. It looked like a ghost ship. Like the photos of the Titanic sitting on the ocean floor, but this ship was docked in New York. I realized, I was part of something important and extraordinary. I was asked to help do a very small part to save a piece of history. Unfortunately, many of the photos were of very poor quality, and like the ship in need of repair. Most of the images only needed small repairs, of quick photoshopping to remove creases, or flaking edges. One image though, became the face of the campaign. It was of the ship coming into dock, crowds cheering, and flags waving. The original image was in black and white, however I colorized it, like an old Ted Turner classic. I’m super proud of this campaign, and I’m grateful that I got to be a part of it. If you’d like to see all of the images I created, read facts about the ship and check out a short video, you can view the campaign here: https://www.wearetheunitedstates.org/campaign
