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The end of the financial year is quickly approaching (someone tell us where the first half of the year went?!) and with that, comes the season of annual reports; a chance for businesses to tell their story to investors, for charities to spread their vision, and for design nerds to drool over data and infographics.
In a world where digital is taking over, it comes as no surprise that the last two years have seen annual reports shift dramatically from print to digital, allowing users to immerse themselves in an online experience featuring beautiful UI, video, animation and infographics.
What are so many organisations making the switch to digital?
Accessibility
The digital space is exploding. And with good reason – accessibility. Having the ability to share your content with someone who is on the other side of the world, as easily as you would with someone who is sitting beside you, is a huge draw-card for businesses looking to garner attention.
Analytics
One of the best (and in some cases, one of the scariest) things about the web is that your every click and download can be tracked – you’ll be able to find out who is visiting your website, what they did once they got there, and where they went after. It’s a win/win for organisations, allowing content to be tailored and optimised based on visitor behaviour.
More engaging content
One of the great things about digital is that it’s constantly evolving, and as a result, nothing is final. Having the ability to introduce animation and interactivity, especially when it comes to visualising data, is an absolute game changer – it keeps viewers interested and content more digestible.
Of course, there’s no reason why you couldn’t use a digital annual report as a supplement to it’s printed counterpart – you’ll increase exposure opportunities and be able to integrate it with SEO as it’s essentially a standalone site, while providing a beautifully printed document to those important investors.
As a result of a few client requests, we’ve created a range of templates which can be reskinned for the needs of our clients, or we can create a custom theme with custom functionality – there are no limits! We’ve done a tonne of indepth research, and have spent month analysing existing reports to ensure we create something amazing for our clients, whether templated or custom.
Here are a few that stood out for us:
Department of Communications
As with most Government designs, the Australian Department of Communications’ 2014-2015 Annual Report follows the theme of ‘simple of but effective’. Design-wise, it’s everything you’ve come to expect from a branch of the Australian Government, but when we look at the animation and interactivity, we’re really impressed. Especially considering it would’ve been created around three years ago.
It’s a perfect example of infographic animation without it appearing too obnoxious.
Mailchimp
We’d expect nothing less than amazing to come from Mailchimp. We love the playful nature of their 2015-2016 Annual Report, and it’s the perfect example of how something that is designed beautifully with seamless functionality, could go viral. It shows that annual reports don’t have to be boring – injecting your organisation’s personality into the design can be incredibly effective.
Thankyou
Thankyou’s 2014-205 Annual Report is a perfect example of incorporating minimal animation alongside a minimalistic design. It’s proof that you don’t need to go overboard to create something that your clients will find engaging
As you can see, you don’t need to go over the top with the site to make it effective and broaden your readership – we can create something as basic or advanced as you like.
Get in touch today – we’d love to help you out.
