To emphasize the balance and stability of the San Joaquin Employees' Retirement Association (SJCERA), the theme of "finding the balance" was adopted for this year's CAFR. Balance was abstractly shown through the positive and negative space of various patterns that pertain to the System.
The client wanted these recommendations to feel more like a quick-reference booklet in comparison to the prior version of this publication, which was much larger in volume. The cover needed to hint at the information that was contained inside and be visually interesting to the audience.
I worked with the client to define several possible themes for this year's CAFR. The client decided upon the theme of "Journey Down the Waterway." The focus was on the network of rivers and tributaries that make San Joaquin unique, and show a juxtaposition of the rapid growth of business in the area and the steady and stable force of the waterways.
Redesign of the introductory mailer that CalSTRS sends out to new members. The imagery and color scheme chosen was geared towards the average age of new members.
The concept for this publication was the multi-faceted nature of CalSTRS as a state agency, a business and a pension system. I used abstract images from macro photos of gem stones to create the simple, but elegant and multi-layered graphics.