The California Water Service Group is a holding company from the 90s that governs the older California Water Service, established in 1926. As a public utility, the CWSG provides drinking water and wastewater disposal for about 2 million people.

Of the five CWSG annual reports reviewed, three are presented in a horizontal format. This makes intuitive sense, given the subject matter – bodies of water regulated for human use, as it is evocative of lakes and reservoirs. One report is in portrait format; and the last is a square, thematically linked to the title of the report, which makes reference to (LP) records.

Three of the reports make visual references to water, and in all instances, human intervention is clear – pipes, artificial reservoirs, and a kitchen sink make appearances. As for COVID-19, there are no overt references on the cover. The title of the 2021 report could be read as speaking to the pandemic, however.

While a sharp visual distinction is maintained from year to year, the use of blue remains a constant (usually as a major colour element). The reports lean toward serifs or semi-serifs in their choice of title typefaces, perhaps to take advantage of the perception of serifs as ‘serious’ or ‘established’ – useful, if you’re a public utility.

The 2019 cover is a missed opportunity. The idea hinges on the reader seeing two versions of each image, presented on sequential pages. In one, the text is clear and the image is blurred, while overleaf is the clear version of the image. In reading the book, the idea works well, but on the cover, using only the blurred image, with text exhorting the reader to ‘focus on what matters,’ the idea is weakened.

The cover to the 2020 report is noteworthy for the opposite reason: its spectacular use of illustration and colour. Although it does not overtly speak to the idea of water, it is a striking image and is by far, the best cover from the five-year period.