17 Dec, 2019

Making investors unhappy is not good for business. A cardinal rule for an investor relations manager is to prevent a company-investor relationship to go sour.

One way to appease investors is through a visually-enriching annual report design. The purpose of the design is not to patch over poor company performances. An engaging annual report design tells a company story that places employees and investors at the forefront.

A corporate annual report allows investors to measure the company’s progress, evaluate business performance for the past year, and track or address any dip in revenue. Let’s look at how an annual report influences effective investor communication.

Influencing investor decisions

An effective design elevates an annual report. Investors monitor operational procedures and ponder over corrective courses of action.

The purpose of an engaging annual report design is to offer investors an insight into the motivation and attitude of company employees.

When an annual report is designed with a proper structure and flowing narrative, it provides investors with an understanding as to why certain important decisions were taken and their outcome. This decision making pertains to shareholder policies, employee’s perspective and future courses of action.

Understanding employee relationships

An annual report gives the company’s leaders a platform to reach out to a variety of audiences. Through effective annual report design, the integration of the leaders message is successfully put to the narrative.

The CEO’s message can instil unity amongst employees and rouse their motivation. It is an opportunity for the leaders to open a dialogue with their employees. The current state of affairs and future company goals are established through this message.

Rarely does a CEO get an opportunity to address the company employees directly. When an annual report features a CEO’s message at the start of an engaging story, a deeper connection is made with the report’s audience. Investors thus get an understanding of how the company leadership treats its employees.

Reading a story, and not a report

The benefit of hiring an award-winning annual report design agency is the work they put into creating a stunning report. Annual report designers turn a mundane stats-filled report into a strong piece of visual storytelling.

Like a story, the report focusses on the past, addresses the present and builds a foundation for the future. Investors are interested in reading the company’s story. They want to see if the changes suggested in last year’s report, made a difference or not? They want to see what learnings can be taken from last year’s financial performance.

Through business storytelling, investors can visualize the organization’s fundamental values and beliefs. This, in turn, tells the investors where the company’s ideals will take them in the near future.

The annual report works as a branding tool, which impacts an investor and the general public alike. A stunningly designed annual report, aligned with the company’s brand consistency, can grab attention.

An annual report designed with a theme can tie current market performance, company strategic objectives, and industry context. The report, when designed as a piece of visual storytelling, can speak chiefly to investors.



At Designmyreport.com, telling business stories and conveying these stories via annual reports comes as second nature. Strong investor relations communication can build solid relationships and designmyreprt.com is just the agency that one would want for the job.