Overview

TQYC is a Trans & Queer, POC-led nonprofit providing gender affirming supplies, harm reduction resources, and mental wellness support to youth in what is now called the CA Central Valley. The organization runs on a collective leadership model — one where youth, families, and staff share power to build community, not just programs.

The challenge was to build a brand and web presence that matched TQYC’s actual character: unapologetically queer, politically conscious, community-rooted — and visually arresting enough to feel as bold as the organization itself.

Client: TQYC — Trans Queer Youth Collective

Location: Sacramento, CA Central Valley

Scope: Brand system, web, copy

Audience: POC trans & queer youth, ages 12–26

Visual direction

The brand system draws on three intersecting aesthetics:  Afro-futurism, comic book energy, and cyberpunk precision, grounded by earth tones that honor Indigenous and African heritage. The palette lives on a near-black “void,” with neon gold as the crown color: a symbol of legacy and community leadership.

Deliverables

Brand system & visual identity

Full color palette with rationale, type hierarchy (Bebas Neue / Rajdhani / Space Mono), visual effects library (halftone, cosmic nebula, kente geometry, glitch, speed lines), UI components, and a brand board documenting the complete system.

Copy & brand voice guide

A comprehensive internal reference covering mission, values-based tone descriptors, preferred terminology (2SLGBTQIA+, QTBIPOC, safe(r), folx), language to avoid, page-by-page copy blocks, and writing principles grounded in trauma-informed, antiracist, harm-reductive framing.

Custom CSS library

A production-ready stylesheet with 20 documented sections — design tokens, hero, nav, buttons, program cards, campaign cards, donate section, marquee strip, scroll reveal animations, and responsive breakpoints — built to drop into any CMS.

Web design & page copy

Homepage, Programs, RISE, Affirmation Emporium, Volunteer, and Donate pages — with hero copy, section copy, and CTAs written in TQYC’s voice throughout.

Approach

Every decision, visual and verbal, was grounded in TQYC’s four core values: culturally responsive, antiracist, trauma-informed, and harm-reductive. That meant rejecting sanitized nonprofit aesthetics in favor of a brand that looks and sounds like the community it serves.

The copy framework was built to be durable and handoff-ready: a voice guide that any future writer could pick up and immediately know how to write for TQYC — from what language to use to how CTAs should feel like an invitation to community, not a transaction.

Key outcomes

4

Core programs with distinct visual identities

20+

CSS component modules, production-ready

1

Comprehensive brand voice guide for the team