In November 2024, America faced a vote:
Republican or Democrat, Trump or Harris?

In the months leading up to the election, photographer Yadah Kaufmann travelled across the United States, conducting interviews and exploring the hopes and desires of Americans. Her portraits reveal a touching humanity, even in the midst of political tension. The documentary gives space to voices from both sides, creating, at least symbolically, a dialogue between them.

Exhibition July 2025

How do you design a photography book with over 200 pages of interview text?

My role was to design the complete book layout, ensuring that both the photographs and the voices behind them were carried by a strong visual and editorial structure. A central challenge was to give extended interviews and pull quotes enough presence, while keeping the photographs at the heart of the work. While most curatorial decisions were Yadah’s, I developed the clear typographic system and page architecture to guided the reader through shifts between image and text without breaking the rhythm.

“So how did you vote?”

It was a deliberate choice not to add the party the interviewees voted for to the information provided about them. Instead, the reader must engage with them on a personal level first, reading their thoughts and opinions, to find out where they stand. Opinions are layered, and the design was built to guide the reader through this process, refusing to simplify human complexity, refusing to add to the polarisation of an already divided country.

First and second interviews

After the election, Yadah Kaufmann conducted interviews with the same people half a year into the Trump administration. These follow-up interviews show how perspectives, hopes, and disappointments had shifted in light of the political reality and together with the earlier material, offer insight into how political perspectives change and persist with nuance.