Audience: Organization stakeholders and donors
Tools used: Adobe Illustrator and InDesign
I worked with communications professionals and subject matter experts at World Education to compile and design the 2022 annual report.
Peruse the full report below and read on for process details.
To begin this project, I researched some recent reports whose layouts I felt were successful for a variety of reasons. I then worked with a Communications Coordinator to refine these ideas and make sure they were feasible for the content that World Education staff had available for the report.
Above: layout inspiration and my notes about the designs. See full inspiration process here.
After gathering inspiration, I reviewed previous years' report designs to understand how the design could be improved.
In the 2021 annual report spreads (example above), the overall design feels heavy due to a large block of color at the top. With key data points placed within this header, the takeaways lack clear visual context for where World Ed's work takes place. Further, bold text is overused throughout the many paragraphs on each page.
In the 2022 spreads, I added country outlines to complement each block of text related to a specific country. I ensured each key takeaway was paired with a photo to strengthen the overall narrative and add a human element to the statistics. The spreads are more balanced overall with lightened colors and varying layouts throughout the report.
Above: additional comparisons between annual report spreads from 2021 (top) and 2022.
The final report was well received among World Education leadership. It was printed and distributed among the organization's stakeholders and taken along to several conferences and events.
