Theme
The 2021 Cal Poly TAGA journal theme is titled California Calling.
When presented with the task of transitioning to an electronic publication, choosing a theme was certainly daunting, but as a team, we knew we wanted to focus on nature. In a time of fear and uncertainty, we looked to the landscape of California for grounding. The ebb and flow of California’s hills, tides, and clouds show us that change is perpetual. In order to have renewed growth, a period of decline is inevitable.
Even though the team is scattered across the West Coast right now, we all call California home in one way or another, which is why we decided to pay homage to the state. Our theme name is also a nod to our regular Zoom calls. We knew that it would be a missed opportunity to ignore the unique circumstances surrounding this year’s student competition, so we embraced the challenges to produce optimistic deliverables.
Typeface
Karla
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Karla Italic
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Karla Medium Italic
Karla Bold
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Karla Extra Bold
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
For the journal’s typeface, we decided to use Karla. Karla is a grotesque sans serif family designed for the Latin and Tamil scripts. It has a weight axis ranging from Extra-light to Extra-bold. The principal designer of the typeface, Jonny Pinhorn, received his MA in Type Design from the University of Reading. Following his education, Pinhorn went on to design Karla for Google Fonts.
We were especially drawn to the letterforms of the lowercase “t” and “g,” which are prominent in the acronym TAGA. We decided to use all lower-case for stylized text of TAGA because it reads as approachable, authentic, and friendly. The team wanted to build community and create positive deliverables, so we expressed that in our design. Karla is a dynamic, laid-back typeface that we believe reflects the character of our theme.
We utilized Karla Extra-Bold for article titles, Karla Bold for headings, Karla Medium Italic for subheadings, Karla Regular for body text, and Karla Italic for figure captions.
Color Palette
Seafoam Sage
Shimmering Shore
Serenity Skyline
Speckled Sands
Sanguine Sunrise
Our Design Coordinator, Kaylee Kitayama, created the color palette with Adobe Color. We named the colors Sage Sea, Shimmering Shore, Serenity Skyline, Speckled Sands, and Sanguine Sunrise.
When choosing the colors Kaylee stated:
“I was inspired by the Golden Coast and wanted the palette to evoke a sense of peace and tranquility. The combination of warm reds and rich blues reflects the beauty of California’s rolling hills, blooming poppies, and the ocean.”
The five colors are utilized in our cover illustration and incorporated throughout the journal, our website, and Instagram posts. In the journal, we used Sage Sea for headings, a variation of Sage Sea for subheadings, and all five colors in the customized graphs.