The right annual report design ensures that your company or organization's information and data stand out and effectively reflect your brand. And the right annual reports printer will help you create a high-quality annual report at a great price.
That’s why we put together some helpful tips and inspiration so you can design an annual report that grabs and keeps your audience’s attention while reflecting your brand professionally. We also included a full rundown of what to look for when finding a printer to print your annual reports.
Annual Report Design Tips + Effective Annual Report Designs
Annual reports say a lot about the professionalism and achievements of your business, which means you need your annual report design to reflect just that.
Take advantage of these annual report design tips and use these annual report designs within this blog as inspiration so you can create an annual report that successfully represents your brand.
Outline Your Annual Report Content
Outlining what you need and want to include within your annual report is incredibly important. It ensures that nothing is left out and it helps make the entire designing and assembling process easier.
A few things typically included in annual reports, which you should outline and prepare content for include:
- Your annual report cover
- Table of Contents (very important for large annual reports)
- Letters to shareholders
- Mission Statement/general business information
- MD&A (Management's Discussion and Analysis)
- Employee stories, leadership board introductions, letter from the CEO or founder, quotes from team members and customers, etc. to bring a personal touch to your annual report
- Recognition of supporters or corporate partners (don’t forget their logos)
- Statistics, annual numbers, charts, graphs, infographics, diagrams, and images
- Financial statement
- Closing message
Choose An Annual Report Design Theme
Choose a theme for your annual report reflecting your brand and audience.
Is your brand’s style modern, playful, classic, serious, or professional and sleek? Who will be reading your company’s annual report?
Your annual report theme should stay on brand and reflect your organization’s goals throughout the entire report, and it needs to appeal to the individuals who will be reading it.
Keep the colors, typeface, and layout consistent throughout your entire annual report, and keep imagery, language, and other content aligned with who your readers are and what your brand represents.
Include Data Visualization
Data, statistics, annual numbers, charts, and graphs can be boring. When including this information in your annual report design, make it colorful and bold to avoid it being looked right over.
You can even create an eye-catching infographic containing your data, pie charts, bar graphs, and other crucial information to give your readers an easy to read and easy to understand overview of the important information you need to share with them.
Incorporate Color in Your Annual Report Design
Incorporating color that is on theme and on brand into your annual report design will help readers easily identify important information in a sea of financial reports and text. Colors help make your annual report easier to navigate and make your annual report more interesting and aesthetically pleasing.
Your clients, supporters, partners, shareholders, investors, and all others who will receive your annual report will be much more likely to read your company’s entire report if there are pops of color throughout catching their eye.
Keep it Simple & Make Sure Your Annual Report is Easy to Read
Small fonts you have to squint to read and long, drawn-out descriptions are not a good idea.
Make titles and headlines large, and the main details at a readable font size (we recommend nothing smaller than 8pt font.) Keep stories, descriptions, and all information at a decent length, you don’t want to overcrowd your annual report design with unnecessary details that may come across as boring or overwhelming.
You also need to make sure that all typography, imagery, and graphics are light in color if they are placed on a dark background and dark in color if they are placed on a light background. This will add contrast and help your design elements stand out and will make them easy to read.
Use An Annual Report Design Template
When designing your annual report, you want to make sure that your design is set up perfectly for your annual report printer.
This means it needs to fit the exact size annual report you are looking to print, it needs to include bleed, so your colors and design elements extend all the way to the edge of your annual report pages, and it needs to stay within the appropriate margin and trim line, so no details are lost in the annual report printing process.
To help ensure your annual report design is perfectly laid out, ask your annual report printer for a free annual report design template.
Annual Report Printing Capabilities To Look For
Now that you’ve got the design of your annual report figured out, it’s time to select the right printing specs and the right annual reports printer.
When it comes to selecting the right specs for your annual report, including paper, binding, page count, and size, you need to find an annual reports printer who offers everything below and will work with you every step of the printing process to ensure everything aligns with your vision and budget.
Annual Report Design Templates
We’ve discussed the importance of using an annual report design template and it’s important to find a printer who offers templates for free so that you don’t have to spend unnecessary money when printing your annual reports.
At Conquest Graphics, we offer the standard 8.5” x 11” annual report design template, as well as many other sizes so you’re successfully prepared to print an annual report you’re proud of. Click here to download your free annual report design template today! Looking for a different size? Head over to our template page to check out other sizes we offer and if you’re looking for a custom size, don’t hesitate to contact our team at any time!
Annual Report Quality Printing
Your brand’s annual reports contain all records of your company or organization’s activities, achievements, and plans over the past year which means it needs to reflect the same quality of your brand and the hard work you put into the year.
Because of this, it’s essential that you find an annual reports printer who offers the highest quality materials and who has the experience, equipment, and resources your brand deserves.
At Conquest Graphics, we have been printing annual reports that exceed our clients’ goals and reflect the professionalism and dedication of their brand through only the best materials since 1922. All while working with them closely to not only meet the goals they have, but also meet their budget.
Annual Report Printing Specs
Each spec of your annual report will determine how your annual report booklets feel and look and each spec will determine the annual report printing costs. So, it’s important to review the printing specs below so you can narrow down the best options for your annual report. For an in-depth overview of the cost of printing annual reports, as well as tips for keeping the cost low, check out our blog “How Much Annual Report Printing Costs.”
Annual Report Size
The most common annual report size is 8.5” x 11” which is also one of the more affordable sizes for annual reports and booklets alike.
However, if you’re looking for a more unique design, other common sizes for booklets you can use for your annual report include 5.5” x 8.5,” 6” x 9,” and 9” x 12.
Annual Report Binding Method
Saddle stitching is one of the most common of the binding methods for annual report printing because it’s the cheapest binding option.
Perfect binding and wire-o binding are also used by some companies, however, if you’re printing an annual report between 8-96 pages, saddle stitching will be the most affordable binding method for your annual reports.
We offer saddle stitching as the default option on our annual report pricing calculator to ensure you get the best value. If you’re interested in one of our other binding methods, you can contact us at any time via email, chat or by calling us a call at 800-707-9903 and we would be happy to build a quote for you.
Annual Report Paper Selection
Annual reports typically consist of thinner inside pages and thicker, more protective paper for the cover.
At Conquest Graphics, we recommend using an 80# or 100# text weight paper for the inside pages of your annual report and an 80# or 100# cover-weight paper for the cover of your annual report. By choosing a thicker cover stock for the cover of your annual report, it will ensure that your annual report is durable, and it will help your annual report feel and look more professional.
For more details on the paper we offer, check out our paper selection page or request one of our free paper sample booklets today.
Annual Report Coating
Adding a coating like a gloss UV coating to your annual report will make it stand out, feel and look sleeker, protect it from scratching or tearing, and it will add an additional level of professionalism.
We recommend adding a UV coating to the cover of your annual report for these reasons. You can also add a coating to the inside pages of your annual report, but it will increase the price and with the cover being coated you can ensure your inside pages will be protected.
Now that you’re inspired to get started on the design of your annual report and are well versed in the options you need to consider when looking for an annual reports printer, you’re ready to get started!
If you’re interested in taking advantage of our capabilities, our expertise, our low prices, and our high-quality products, head over to our annual report product page to begin your annual report printing project. If you’re looking for options not listed on our annual report page including a higher page count, a specialty paper, or other binding option, don’t hesitate to contact our team of experts via email, chat, or phone at 800-707-9903 today!
