Annual reports form an important cornerstone of communication between a company and it’s shareholders, investors, other financial parties and interested individuals. It is imperative that graphic design for these documents be strong and clear. They must maintain the visual identity of the company, as well as present information contained within in a way that is easily absorbed and understood.
The challenge graphic designers face with designing annual reports is making text-heavy and financial data visually engaging for the reader – we want to keep the audience interested in the information that is contained!
Gray Design recently had the opportunity to design the annual report for the Cat Protection Society (CPS) Victoria, a not-for-profit organisation located in Melbourne’s north. They had previously been generating their annual reports in-house, but had come to the realisation that the Society needed a more professional visual identity. We were advised that the graphic design elements used within the annual report would also be used in future CPS corporate identity and literature.
CPS have a vision of a community in which all cats are valued and respected as companion animals and have a high standard of welfare and well being. Due to the nature of the Society, Gray Design needed to create a ‘look’ that was friendly and approachable as opposed to ‘corporate’.
To uphold the vision of the Society, and appeal to the targeted audience for the annual report, Gray Design created layouts that introduced readers to a selection of cats in an individual and personable way.
Another key element used was a pair of small triangles, representing the upright ears of a cat, used as a design element to work with the speech boxes for the cats, and to create visual interest within the layouts. Bringing it all together was the font Museo, chosen for headings because of its flowing serifs and sympathetic curves. It was felt that this font was a great combination of ‘modern’ and ‘friendly’.