Visual Identity
Social Art Direction
Copy Strategy
Multimedia Production
As political polarization intensified across the U.S., most headlines focused on division at the national level, leaving a critical blind spot: the local governments where people experience democracy every day. Carnegie Corporation, now renamed to Andrew Carnegie Foundation, partnered with research firm, CivicPulse, to commission a first-of-its-kind three-part national survey of thousands of local government officials, exploring if and where Americans still find common ground.
The research challenged the national narrative: while national politics remained deeply divided, local governments continued to solve problems through collaboration and shared purpose, revealing local government as one of the country's most powerful and innovative engines for rebuilding trust in government, strengthening communities, and renewing American democratic life.
I successfully pitched naming of the survey, "Polarization in America," led the visual identity development, supported copy strategy, and worked closely with the social team to shape dissemination strategy, transforming a dense body of research into an accessible public campaign. Rather than reinforcing familiar narratives of political division, the campaign reframed local government as a place where collaboration, trust, and problem-solving still thrive, highlighting solutions identified by local officials as an antidote to polarization.
At the center was a custom identity featuring a subtle diagonal divide within the wordmark, expressing both tension and common ground. A visual system rooted in sweeping geographic imagery of small town America replaced the familiar imagery of partisan conflict, shifting the focus to local government as a catalyst for strengthening American unity and public trust.
The survey results revealed an opportunity to tell a larger, impactful story. Beyond the data, local government officials emerged as the people quietly helping communities navigate political differences through practical problem-solving and public service. Rather than treating the survey as a standalone report, I developed a campaign that humanized the findings through the people behind them.
The campaign vision centered on cinematic short documentaries, powerful environmental portraits, and community-driven narratives that elevated the everyday work of local leaders featured in the survey, while offering tangible examples of how stronger communities are built, and in some cases, rebuilt. Although organizational resources shifted before the broader campaign was realized, it established a strategic framework for transforming research into human-centered stories that positioned local government as a force for trust and civic resilience.
The project transformed a complex body of research into a compelling public narrative covered by national outlets like NBC News, helping Carnegie elevate the survey beyond a policy report into a broader conversation about the entreprenuerial role of local government in strengthening communities through solving everyday problems most Americans agree on.
As Carnegie grantee and Director of the Democracy Renovation Lab at Harvard, Danielle Allen says, "Democracy is really the work of how we live together." By reframing the survey findings through compelling storytelling, best practices for turning a community around, and campaign strategy highlighting the often invisible work of local leaders, we were able to highlight local government not simply as an administrative institution, but as a place where American democracy very much still thrives.
Catriona Whalley (Social Strategy)
Daniel Um (Web Design)