11 Nov, 2018

Annual reports are usually looked upon as necessary financial literature. However, there are ways to transform these data-dense reports to tell your brand story. To get you started, here are five essentials that pave the way for a stellar Annual Report.

Harness the power of Data Visualisation

An Annual Report should be looked at as a visual story told to your investors through your data. Page after page of stats can repel your audience. Whereas a well packaged visual story can be engaging and incite action. Also, data visualisation can be used to condense multiple rows and columns of data into a single visualisation. This reduces the size of your report making it more consumable. Data visualisation can make your report appealing in obvious as well as subtle ways. For example, Zee’s Annual Report, Extraordinary Together represents data for their international presence in the form of globe icons. This adds a relatable human element to the data that can be connected with.

Make your online Annual Report mobile optimized

Mobile viewing has outdone website viewing on the whole, and your mobile phone has become a vital storytelling medium. It is changing the way businesses interact with investors. Keeping this in mind, mobile optimisation should be prioritized for your online Annual Report.

Enable device-specific consumption of data

Reports that are data-concentrated can be overwhelming. Especially so, depending on the device it is consumed on. For example, a PDF is not the most compatible format for a mobile phone. Most investors have on-the-go lifestyles. They don’t have the time to spend on a lengthy and counter-intuitive experience of viewing a PDF on a mobile. So, a better option for a mobile platform would be progressive disclosure of data, where information will be displayed in bite-sized pieces and could be accessed by tapping on buttons.

Optimise content for each platform

Rewrite the content to make it concise and relevant. After all, your busy investors hardly have the time to read through page after page of information. The key is to give them consumable content without compromising on the core message.

Create an interactive experience

Interactivity is a powerful tool that can be used to give investors a seamless experience with up-to-date information. It also makes your Annual Report website easier to use and keeps your audience immersed longer. Besides, an interactive layout has the potential to impress audiences and influence investor decisions.



Your Annual Report is a potent communication tool that doesn’t just tell your story but also spurs your audience to take action. So, employ clever design that is impactful and compelling.