Having designed a plethora of reports, I’ve learned that looking good isn’t enough. People have to be able to read the report, understand it, and find the information that matters to them.
That can be harder than it sounds.
An annual report may need to explain what an organization accomplished, show where its money went, introduce the people it serves, thank donors, present financial information, and make a case for continued support. And in creating this “report card” I know that the people receiving it won’t all read it the same way. Some will spend time with the stories. Others will look at the numbers or flip through until something catches their attention.
The design has to help ALL of those readers.
Here are eight things I’ve learned from designing annual and impact reports for nonprofits, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, associations, and other organizations.
1. Give readers a reason to start reading
If you don’t want someone to get three or four pages into an annual report before they understand what the organization accomplished that year, you can put the numbers out front.
The 2024 Bridges Healthcare Impact Report establishes the scale of the organization’s work early. Readers see numbers including 20+ programs, 68,584 service sessions, and 8,881 people reached.
Those numbers quickly tell readers something important about the organization and give them a reason to keep going.
Organizations often have a lot they want to say at the beginning of a report. There may be a letter from leadership, background information, or organizational history. I also want to think about what readers need at that point. A strong photograph, an important statistic, or a clear statement about the year’s impact can help draw them into the report.
2. Design for the way people really read
I don’t assume people are going to read an annual report from cover to cover. Some will, but plenty of people will scan it first and stop when they find something that interests them.
Reports should accommodate both kinds of readers. Large statistics, headlines, photography, shorter highlights, and longer program stories create different ways to move through the content.
Someone scanning the report can understand quite a bit without reading every paragraph. A person interested in a particular program can stop and spend more time there.
Typography does a lot of the work. Changes in size and weight, spacing, headlines, captions, pull quotes, and the placement of numbers create a hierarchy that helps readers understand where to begin and where to go next.
That’s one of the reasons readability is such an important part of annual report design.
3. Give numbers enough context to matter
Annual reports tend to have plenty of numbers: people served, dollars raised, programs delivered, acres protected, volunteer hours, and students reached.
Making one of those numbers enormous doesn’t automatically make it useful.
In the Greenwich Land Trust annual report, figures such as acres protected and land acquired are given enough visual prominence that readers can find them quickly.
Context matters just as much. A reader needs to know what a number represents and why it’s significant to the organization. The design can connect the statistic to supporting information, photography, or the larger story being told on the page.
Data becomes much more useful when readers can understand what they’re looking at without having to dig for an explanation.
4. Make a lot of information manageable
Some annual and impact reports are fairly short. Others have a tremendous amount of information that needs to be included.
The Regional Water Authority annual report falls into the second category. It contains organizational information, operations, governance, financial reporting, and other required content.
In a report like this, the design needs to help readers move through a large amount of material without getting lost or exhausted.
A consistent page structure, strong typography, clear headings, useful navigation, well-designed charts and tables, and enough space around information can make a substantial document easier to use. Most readers won’t consciously notice the system behind the pages. They will notice whether they can find what they’re looking for.
5. Give the report some visual rhythm
Consistency is important in a long document, but repeating the same page structure over and over can make a report feel much longer than it is.
When I’m designing an annual report, I’m thinking about the experience of moving through it. A text-heavy section may be followed by a page with a strong photograph and less copy. Program information might be followed by a large statistic or a shorter story.
The typefaces, colors, image treatments, grids, and other elements still need to belong to the same visual system. Within that system, I want enough variation to keep the report moving.
Readers shouldn’t be able to predict every spread before they turn the page.
6. Let annual reports evolve from year to year
I’ve designed annual reports for Boys & Girls Village since 2017, which has given me the chance to think about what should stay consistent and what should change.
The organization doesn’t stand still from one year to the next. Programs evolve, priorities shift, new stories emerge, and sometimes there’s an important anniversary or theme to recognize. The annual report should reflect what’s happening during that particular year while remaining recognizable as a Boys & Girls Village publication.
A strong visual system gives us room to make those changes. We can introduce different photography, page structures, ways of presenting data, and visual ideas without rebuilding the publication from zero every year.
For organizations communicating with many of the same donors, funders, board members, volunteers, and community partners each year, that continuity matters.
7. Design the financial pages, too
Financial information is often one of the reasons someone picks up an annual report in the first place. Donors, funders, board members, and other stakeholders want to know how an organization is using its resources.
Those pages deserve the same design attention as the rest of the report.
I want financial pages to be easy to read and understand. That may mean clear headings, carefully designed tables, appropriate spacing, legible type, and charts when a chart helps explain the information.
There isn’t a reason to decorate financial information for the sake of decorating it. The design should help readers understand the numbers and find the information they’re looking for.
8. Figure out what the report needs to do before deciding what it should look like
I don’t start an annual report by deciding that it should be bold, minimal, colorful, or elegant.
I start by learning about the organization, its audience, the content, and what the report needs to accomplish. I want to understand which information is most important, where the content gets complicated, and what readers should understand after spending time with the report.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History annual reports, for example, have different content needs from a healthcare impact report or a municipal annual report. The design needs to respond to those differences.
That’s why my annual reports don’t all look alike. The design grows out of the organization and the information we’re trying to communicate.
Readability starts long before choosing a font size
Readability includes type size, of course, but it also comes from the decisions made throughout the entire report. Hierarchy, pacing, organization, data presentation, page structure, and the amount of information competing for attention all affect whether someone keeps reading.
I think a lot about respecting the reader’s time, and showing the organization’s impact in enough ways that it encourages ongoing financial support..
That’s part of the thinking behind my Readability Drives Revenue™ Process. For nonprofits, annual reports are an opportunity to show donors, funders, volunteers, board members, and community partners what their support helped make possible. Making that information easier to read and understand gives the organization’s work a better chance of being seen, remembered, and supported.
After all the work that goes into creating an annual report, that’s what I want the design to do. Let’s talk when you are ready to discuss the process.
FAQs
How do you decide what information should receive the most attention?
That depends on the organization, the audience, and what the report needs to accomplish. Before designing, I identify what readers should understand or remember, then use typography, page structure, photography, data visualization, and pacing to guide their attention.
When should we bring an annual report designer into the process?
Ideally, bring your designer in before the content is final. An experienced report designer can help you think through the amount of content, page count, photography, data, charts, and overall structure before everything is locked in. Early involvement can prevent overcrowded pages, missing visual assets, and last-minute surprises.
What are the steps for creating an annual or impact report with Ruzow Graphics?
We begin with a conversation about your organization, audience, goals, content, schedule, and budget. From there, I review the material, recommend a visual and organizational approach, and develop the initial design directions (usually two). Once that direction is chosen, I design the full report, incorporate feedback, refine the details, and prepare the final files for print and digital use.
How early should we contact Ruzow Graphics about our report?
The earlier, the better — especially if your report has a firm publication, board meeting, fundraising, or mailing date. You do not need to have the copy finished before reaching out. Starting the conversation while the content is still being developed gives us more time to plan the report thoughtfully and identify what will be needed.