Tanya Logan, Blue Apple

With a watchful eye on government and private sector spending and the birth of the integrated report, less is more these days. It shows a certain responsibility to shareholders to not blow the budget on glossy doorstops.

“Almost every request for an annual report comes with the obligatory ‘please make it look classy but not expensive'”, says Tanya Logan from Blue Apple. “We’re also trying to steer our clients to go the digital route. It’s not only better for their carbon footprint but the information is just so much more interactive, entertaining and dynamic.”

Since the Companies Act was amended in 2008 to make an allowance for electronic publication of shareholder material the trend has been towards the PDF or HTML report with a downsized summarised printed version that doubles up as a promotional tool.

This trend may be bad news for printers but it’s great news for clients and designers alike. Clients save money by avoiding huge print runs, sometimes only opting for the low number of digitally printed copies. And while other corporates only want a PDF, the real exciting part for designers is when clients opt for the interactive HTML annual report. From moving infographics to tracking tools, these reports have come a long way since the standard old PDF version slapped on the website.

“It’s hard to convince some clients who have been doing conventional annual reports for years to migrate to an interactive online report,” says Tanya. “But once they see it on an iPad, they’re hooked.”