Tagoro: A Post Growth Imaginary

A reimagined future where sustainable living, community, and eco-equality is a priority.

swirl Tagoro logo

This was a collaborative project with Gianna Gonzàlez Watterston, Gloria Ruffino, and Amy Gupta.

Tagoro — Our Brief

three posters on fence: Wild World Workshop, Eco Living Workshop, Eco Hero Adventures Workshop.

This was our first project of second year, and it was a project that really got us thinking 'what could be'?

Working in teams, we developed an imaginary for a shared vision of what the future could look like. Our task was to make this future feel real, tangible, and a world in which we may really live. Throughout the development process, my team and I outlined a new system of society, one in which humans co-exist with the natural environment with a mantra of 'when we support the eco-system, the eco-system supports us'.

Tagoro:

Guanche for a natural meeting place or circle.

Our Three Key Issues

Interspecies commons: resources shared and maintained collectively by a human and non-human community.
Ecosystem services: ecosystems provide many so-called ecosystem services. Some are essential for life (such as pollination) and are then considered common goods.
Global artificiality: the artificialisation that results from human activity is omnipresent and global (nuclear isotopes, composition of the atmosphere, cell structure, plantations, etc).

The Cycle of Benefit

Diagram explaining the roles of education, workforce, the benefits to the environment, and the benefits to the population in the Cycle of Benefit. Education: where shifts in attitudes, understanding, and culture begins. Workforce: creating respect, empathy, and building communities for a shared vision. Benefits to the Environment: changes made towards our treatment of the environment and wildlife. Benefits to the Population: How changes in education and workforce benefit the population.

Our research shows that while the human population grows rapidly, plants and animals are disappearing 1000 times faster—largely due to urban expansion and its impact on biodiversity and tropical deforestation. To address this, we developed the 'Cycle of Benefit,' where cities actively protect and nurture the environment and at-risk species like dormice and bees. In return, these efforts enhance human health and wellbeing.

Target Audience

Large crowd walking through city, motion blurred.
Photo by mauro mora on Unsplash

Students and workers are a specific focus in our demographic, as the work done in educating young people, as well as what we called 'eco-vocations' (careers dedicated to protecting and maintaining the environment) are what keeps our Cycle of Benefit spinning.

Due to our broader demographic, when we moved on to developing our products we were considerate of which tools would be most effective at reaching each age group of our target audience.

Visualising Our Ideas

These three sketches capture life in our reimagined urban world, where nature reclaims its space. Rooftop gardens provide habitats for pollinators while insulating buildings. Shared pathways and overhead beams allow wildlife to move freely. Public transport, powered by solar energy, replaces dense city traffic, reducing CO₂ emissions. In areas lacking natural spaces, man-made habitats support urban wildlife.

sketch of neighbourhood where buildings have trees in rooftop gardens, there's lots of greenery, and a public tram.'
a closer sketch of buildings with rooftop gardens.
sketch of father an child walking through park with beams fixed between trees to provide a passageway for wildlife that allows them to travel the forest without interracting with people/ being interferred with.

Tagoro City Map

Here I drew up a simple map to outline the flow of the city structure. Businesses and companies are dedicated to upholding the health of the eco-system, and schools offer easy access to green spaces and activities, such as micro-farming and volunteering at animal rehab centres, so that they can learn about sustainable living before entering the workforce.

simple map of the city showing eco-businesses, schools, green areas, and community micro-farms

Prototypes

3d prototype of a man made beehiv, purple in colour, designed in a flower shape using hexagons fixed in a circle.
'Bee Blossom' A man-made habitat for bees that can be fixed onto buildings. Monitored by experts to keep track of the population, as well as any changes to the health of the hives.
rough sketches of different man made habitats. Fox Pods: spherical dens to be placed around the city. Hedgehog hides: triangular, tent-like structures to give hedgehogs a safe place to rest. Bee Blossoms: flower shape made from hexagons with hexagonal tunnels for bees to live. Bat Bungalows: little huts to attach to buildings.
Sketches of various man-made habitats to be put in areas of the city where urban wildlife is unlikely to find a space to settle without interferrance.
short cylindrical container-like den with holes in the bottom for ventillation, and a larger hole just big enough to a dormouse to enter and exit.
'Dormice Den' A small den for dormice with holes for ventilation and a small entry/exit hole to keep out predators. These dens can be tagged and monitored to keep track of the health and numbers of the species.

Brand Purpose

We used the Why How What model, which we learned about watching a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek, to clearly outline the purpose, methods, and results of Tagoro.

brand purpose, why, how, what diagram

My Proposed Branding Route

These are the logos and the colour palette that I came up with to present to Imagination. I wanted to capture the inherent overlap of urban spaces and nature that exists in Tagoro, and how it is an entirely shared space belonging to the people, wildlife, and plant life that live there.

Shown below are the different versions of the logo that I came up with.

logo of highrise with rooftop gardens, beige background, green accents
logo of highrise with rooftop gardens, green background, beige accents
logo of highrise outline with rooftop gardens, beige background, green accents
logo of highrise outline with rooftop gardens, green background, beige accents
logo of highrise with rooftop gardens, beige background, light green accents
logo of highrise with rooftop gardens, light green background, beige accents
logo of highrise with rooftop gardens, beige background, light green accents
logo of highrise outline with rooftop gardens, light green background, beige accents
logo of Tagoro word, letter O is made of three arrows moving in a circle, light green background, beige font
logo of Tagoro word, lighter green trees perched on letter G, letter O is made of three arrows moving in a circle, beige font, darker green background
logo of Tagoro word, dark green font, letter O is made of three arrows moving in a circle, beige background
logo of Tagoro word, light green background, beige font,beige tree at the end of the name
logo of Tagoro word, two lighter green trees perched on letter G, darker green background, beige font
logo of Tagoro word, light green font and green tree at the end of the name, beige background
colour palette. three shades of green, a dark shade (named Deep Woods), medium shade (named Fresh Meadow), and light shade (named Clover). Dark turquoise (named Deep Water Blue), golden yellow (named Sunflower Yellow), bright orange (named Nasturtium), and a soft pink (named Petunia).

Chosen Route

Three versions of spiral Logo with word Tagoro beneath. Left side logo has dark green background with light green accents. Top right has pale beige background with dark brown accents. Bottom right has brown background with light green accents
fiver versions of logo. Left has brown background with pale beige spiral logo and 'tagoro' beneath. Top right logo is just tagoro brand name, first o is the spiral from the logo. second down right, dark green background with light green spiral logo in front of 'tagoro'. bottom right version 1 is a green spiral on pale beige background. Bottom right version two has a dark brown background with letters t, o (which is represented with spiral logo) and g interlocking.
Logos designed by Gianna
Base colour palette. dark brown (named Oak) pale beige (named Ecru) dark green (Drago) light green (sprout).
accent colour palette. orange (named Nasturtium) red (caramine) dusty blue (cielo) and warm yellow (golden).
Colour palette by Gianna

Mock Ups

kitchen section of Tagoro home book
Kitchen section title page of Tagoro Home.
front and back cover of hardcover book, Tagoro Home
Tagoro Home front and back cover.
double page spread titled 'Beeswax wraps' and 'Micro Farming'
A spread from Tagoro Home for sustainable home living.
Instagram page promotion
An Instagram page to reach younger audiences and draw in those outside of eco-cities to Tagoro's sustainable living practices.
promotional Instagram post to promote a kids gardening kit
Promotional Instagram post for the 'Kids Essential Gardening Kit', which aims to encourage children to get involved and fall in love with growing their own little sustainable garden.
contents page covering sustainable ways to manage kitchen, clothing, body care, heating, lighting, and one time buys
A home book for older audiences, offering guidance about how to live more sustainably.
waterbottle, orange-yellow gradient, with tagoro name and spiral logo in a pattern covering the bottle.
Water bottle, to be included in Tagoro kits — made by Amy Gupta.
dark green cap, yellow 'tagoro' on the front.
Gardening cap — made by Amy Gupta.
brown paper seed packet with sunflower pattern, centre of flowers are tagoro swirl.
Seed packet to be included in the kids' gardening kit — made by Amy Gupta.
notebook with colourful patterm of zigzags, bird footprint, cirlces, squares, and tagoro swirl.
Notebook, included in kids' gardening kit. This can be used to track the progress of the garden, and as a place to jot down everything learned during the process of growing — made by Amy Gupta.
box for kit, same pattern as notebook
Kids' Gardening Kit box, which includes seed packets, the water bottle, cap, notebook, and other tools for learning and cultivating their mini-gardens — made by Gloria Rufino.
canvas tote bag with brown tagoro logo
Kits for teachers, including water bottles and other tools to help them teach students about the sustainable lifestyle of the city, and the eco-vocations that support it — made by Gianna González-Watterston.

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