California Water
Three clients, one very complicated resource.
The Problem
Water in California sits at the intersection of agriculture, public infrastructure, environmental policy, government, and the households that depend on all of it. The communication challenges change depending on who is in the room, but the underlying problem is often the same: making complicated, high-stakes issues understandable to people with very different priorities.
My Role
This work runs across three different sides of California's water problem, an ongoing creative partnership with Turlock Irrigation District, the identity for the Water Blueprint coalition, and the platform behind TuoCo, Tuolumne Utilities District's push to acquire water rights from PG&E.
The Move
For Turlock Irrigation District, the work has been about consistency over time. I've designed annual reports, recurring newsletters, and milestone campaigns, including the district's 135th anniversary, that make dense utility information easier to navigate while maintaining a recognizable voice and visual system year after year.
The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley needed something different. The coalition brings together agricultural interests, water agencies, municipalities, and environmental and community organizations, so the identity had to represent the group as a whole without visually belonging to any one constituency. I built the logo system and full brand guide around that need, giving the coalition a neutral but recognizable platform to use collectively.
Tuolumne Utilities District needed something more focused: a public face for its effort to acquire water rights and facilities from PG&E, a proposal with long-term benefits but real costs for ratepayers. I built the TuoCo identity and website around "Our Water, Our Future," giving the effort its own platform to explain the proposal, track developments, and help residents understand what the district was asking them to invest in and why.
What Happened
TID's communications and visual system are still evolving through an ongoing creative relationship, the kind of trust that comes from showing up year after year.
The Water Blueprint identity remains in active use years after launch. As recently as 2025, the coalition was sending formal letters under that same brand to the Governor's office and federal officials, advocating for a shared plan to increase California's water supply by 9 million acre-feet a year by 2040.
TuoCo's acquisition itself is still unresolved. PG&E paused negotiations in June 2022, then re-engaged with TUD in late 2024, and no agreement has closed. What the identity and website gave residents was a consistent place to follow a complicated process as it continues, rather than having the issue surface only through routine rate communications.
