If you are yet to try an online format for your business’ Annual Report, you may be approaching it with some mixed feelings. For many businesses, the pandemic has meant that a lot of traditionally tactile publications have had to be redesigned for online delivery. How then do you ensure that your premiere publication of the year doesn’t lose its gravitas in the conversion to digital?
If you don’t want to relegate your Annual Report to the lower tiers of your website, here’s a few suggestions to make sure you give your most important financial artefact the reverence and reach it deserves.
An online PDF is one of the easiest ways to digitise the more familiar, published format of an Annual Report. It’s portable, printable on demand and offers your stakeholders an accessible option to review your material.
While PDF’s easability may appeal to the content author and some stakeholders, it has its limitations and can make for poor online readability if it hasn’t been designed specifically for this purpose. In our mobile-driven world, small screen accessibility is of paramount importance, so it’s vital to ensure these form factors when designing your Annual Report experience.
Some of the key considerations we think about when designing a digital Annual Report are as follows.
The nature of information sharing has evolved, and to stay relevant the presentation of your Annual Report should follow suit. Forget plain images and dull blocks of text - a dynamic Annual Report that functions as an integrated part of your website or as a microsite can deliver a superior user experience, whilst enabling you and your reader greater control of the information.
With your Annual Report hosted online you can:
Annual Reports aren’t always known for being the most entertaining of artefacts and getting your readers to read them from cover to cover can sometimes be an exercise in futility.
So if you can’t get them to read your content, perhaps you could consider serving it to them on their preferred social media platforms. There’s a plethora of current and emerging platforms for you to exercise your creativity - and we’d love to help you to do just that.
Here’s a few thought starters:
Whether you venture into the world of digital Annual Reports by introducing a PDF version of your printed report, or you go all-in with a well-developed microsite, it will speak to how forward thinking, and invested your brand is in your audience and stakeholders.
Delivering your organisation’s Annual Report is a daunting task and if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed we’ve created resources to help you get on track and deliver a report beyond your stakeholders’ expectations.
Take a look at some of our Annual Reports case studies, or get in touch with us to see more:
Our team of graphic designers, web developers, content writers and publication strategists can help you maximise your audience’s engagement with fully integrated and interactive communications and designs. Visit our Annual Report design packages to see how we can deliver your next marketing asset.