Clean Water State Revolving Fund
Overview
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) is the federal-state program that finances water infrastructure across the country, from wastewater treatment to stormwater and nonpoint source projects. Each year, EPA's Office of Water reports on what the program funded and which projects deserve national recognition.
In 2021, EPA's Office of Water approached us to vectorize the CWSRF logo, which they either didn't have or couldn't locate. That was the first step of our contract. The second was a bigger one: modernize the design of the CWSRF Annual Report, which until then had always been produced in-house.
The Starting Point
The original logo carried a color palette, but the reports never followed it. A water-wave graphic had been borrowed from elsewhere and didn't match the rest of the report, so the pages lacked a cohesive look. Readability, color contrast, and Section 508 accessibility hadn't been considered.
The Brief
EPA gave us a lot of creative freedom and little direction. The goals were a more engaging layout, a baseline visual style that could carry across their other reports, and a finished template EPA could use on its own.
The Approach
Accessibility: Every color pairing was checked for contrast, type was set for readability, and the document was built to Section 508 standards from the start.
Visual Language: [Describe the palette and graphic elements you built, including how you replaced the borrowed wave graphic.]
Reading Experience: The 2021 report leads with a key takeaway and headline figures, then moves into program highlights and project case studies, each paired with a single-sentence callout.
Reusable Template: The final deliverable was a template EPA's team could use on their own.
The Publications
Annual Report: I designed the 2021 edition, returned for 2022, and returned again to update the design for the 2024 edition.
Financial Overview: I designed the 2022 edition, after EPA had produced the 2021 edition in-house.
PISCES Compendium: The PISCES program recognizes exceptional CWSRF-funded projects nationwide. I carried the template to this series for the 2022 edition, returned to lay out the 2025 compendium, and designed the 2026 edition.
The Result
EPA was pleased enough with the 2021 report that they have kept using the same template for years with very few changes. They returned for the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Overview, the 2024 Annual Report, and the 2025 and 2026 PISCES compendiums, and extended the template to a second publication series. The working relationship spans six years and continues today.
View the Work
Annual Reports
Financial Overview
PISCES Compendiums
EPA's CWSRF Reports Page
https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf/clean-water-state-revolving-fund-cwsrf-reports