Taken from Design Arena blog post… thank you for sharing.

 

How can it be that time of year already? Seems like you only just finished last years Annual Report? Here are 3 quick tips to help make this process a little easier on the brain and budget.

1. DESKTOP PUBLISHERS ARE NOT GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Many people make the mistake of engaging a desktop publisher for their Annual Reports. This is a common but potentially critical error. What may seem like an easy and affordable option could very well end up costing you valuable hours and dollars. Graphic designers, like desktop publishers, possess the skill that requires spacial awareness and rearrange content so it is easy to follow and read. However, the difference is that graphic designers have a whole other skill set to add to this. Not only can an experienced graphic designer typeset, they can also create, innovate and design. They can bring art and originality to your annual report and lift it to the next level.

2. GET A SYSTEM IN PLACE FOR AUTHOR’S CHANGES

Working to a tight budget is challenging and sometimes impossible at the best of times. When you source a quality quote, make sure that it includes author’s changes. The brilliance of having an experienced graphic designer work on your annual report is that there is no need to add the costing of an art director to your quote. This keeps the price down and that tight budget more achievable. Annual Reports can get tedious when markups and author’s changes are being processed, back and forth, all while your account is sky rocketing. You need to have a system in place before you start.

3. ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS CRITICAL

Annual Reports require precise attention to detail as the information communicated must be 100% accurate: no room for error. You need to ensure that the team you select to pull you data together can do so in a clean, concise and correct manner. It is imperative that their attention to detail is on point. At the end of the day, if the information is inaccurate, or the process requires countless corrections, then the idea of a tiresome annual report will definitely live up to it’s often very tedious reputation.

Make your Annual Report stand out, inject some life into it with a creative flair. Increase the chance of people actually reading it whilst maintaining the level of importance it demands. Let Design Arena turn this mundane task into one that your company can be proud of.

Desk top publishers are people who know how to use and operate the design programs used for Annual Reports, but are not graphic designers. We are! Design Arena has systems in place that assist you to maintain budget. We have an incredible eye for detail with a passion for accuracy.

Let us get the job done for you so that design will be the difference in your next Annual Report.

Thank you design arena for this post. I couldn’t have said it better myself.