Annual report design: why it should look good?

The company’s annual report is an important document that tells about the health of any company to its stakeholders, shareholders, media publications, and your community. You can find different annual report designs, formats, and shapes. It ranges from basic typewritten pages to full-color, glossy print of your company’s yearly progress. You must understand the purpose of the annual report as it will help you make sure that your report contains relevant information for your company.

Prospectus, interim report, financial press release, and personal contact with company officials are some of the ways through which you can communicate about the company’s affair. Despite the existence of several sources of information, the annual report is considered as the most significant source of sharing and communicating information about a company’s affairs. It is really focused on the community at large; to whomsoever, it may have been formally addressed. Let’s discuss more reasons why annual reports are preferred over other sources:

  • Annual report is comparatively more and easily accessible as compared to any other source of information.
  • Annual report encompasses audited information which develops confidence among the public.
  • Annual report includes additional detailed information besides financial statements, such as historical summary, important business results, statistical data, company’s plans, and policies that cannot be accessed in other sources of information.
  • Annual report represents the most commonly available source of information based on past performance. Therefore, the statements within are used by both professional and amateur investors to forecast the future performance of the company, thereby giving a fair idea about the future share prices and the related cash flows to the investors.

Therefore, every company must publish corporate annual reports so that investors and other users don’t need to go through other sources for the company information needed by them.

Now, when we have fully understood the significance of the annual report for the company, it’s time to recognize the importance of annual report design. The design of your annual report is an important element as it will help you inform the progress of your company in a positive way. A well-thought-out annual report design can guarantee the engagement of all investors, even those who don’t evaluate such documents on a regular basis. That’s why you need a great team that can understand the engagement of this manner openly and will convert your dull and boring word document report to an exciting and engaging annual report.

Because an annual report consists of valuable corporate and financial information about the company, it doesn’t mean that it should be just a book of numbers. Your annual report is a vital communication tool for your business, so it has to be interesting, highlighting the achievements, investments, and successes to your potential stakeholders.

TURN YOUR ANNUAL REPORT INTO AN OPPORTUNITY

It’s time to make your annual report stand out and engaging with some great designs and formats. It’s high time to create a report that reflects your company’s vision. It will definitely help you deliver an impact on your investors and let you connect with them through great design. An annual report with plain data, stats, and financial figures will fail to engage your audience. In fact, it might actually put them to sleep. There is an important fact about the annual report, i.e. those who will read your annual report have a valid interest in your company. This can turn out to be an excellent opportunity for you. Don’t let this opportunity pass due to dull and uninteresting annual report. Find out the ways through which you can make your report attractive yet informative. You can take the help of designing experts who can convert your plain text into a graphical format.

COMMUNICATE BEYOND WORDS THROUGH MEANINGFUL DESIGN

We are living in an era, where things that look good are sold well. Because customers truly acknowledge the fact that pictures speak a thousand words and human attention is the rarest commodity. When it is about impressing investors, stakeholders, and shareholders, you cannot simply represent your company’s success on a plain paper. It should be in a nice format and represented excellently so that it can grab their interest. A nice and presentable report might force them to invest in your company. Great designs help you communicate complex concepts or grab an emotional response quickly from the investors.

You will need the help of a designing company that can make the best use of creativity and experience to represent your brand that outsmarts the competition. Companies, global giant, or start-ups, visit the designers with some objective in mind and look for a passionate team that can offer them comprehensive annual report design and strategic thinking. They look for professionals who can help them achieve engaging communication through reports. Apart from designing reports, a creative design company can help you increase your company’s reach ad reputation by trying hands on the latest marketing products like:

  • Advertising Design
  • Billboard & Adshel Design
  • Brochure Design
  • Retail Design
  • Campaign Design
  • Event Design
  • Label Design
  • Wayfinding Design
  • Logo Design
  • Package Design
  • Pitch Deck Design
  • Poster Design

If you have any plans for moving your company digitally, then you could also choose several digital solutions like websites, social media platforms, and other channels that can help you reach more and more investors.

To speak to our team about your annual report design, or any other design project, you can contact us through our contact form, by calling us on +44 (0)28 9507 2007 or by emailing us on studio@kaizenbrandevolution.com.

How design plays a part in your marketing efforts

When crunching the numbers, good design can often be considered a nice-to-have rather than a business necessity. Well, truth be told, design is as important as any other part of your business, if not more so. Great design is about providing visual solutions to user problems, whether it be reducing the time it takes for a customer to read your advert, ensuring your sales messages are remembered or changing the way your customers think or feel about your brand, product or service, design is an integral part of the whole process and should never be underestimated. 

So in what ways does design help your marketing efforts? Here’s our run-down; 

Design makes people feel good

First and foremost, design provokes an emotional response. You’ll know this from your own experience. Whether you have a positive or an adverse reaction to a piece of design is usually decided within a split second of viewing. So as good as your product or service may be, and as valuable as it might be to your customers – if the design flops then they are unlikely to give any more thought to it. On the other hand, if your design appeals to your intended audience, then you will be on the front foot from the very start. Your audience will immediately feel more positively about what you have to say, and you can begin to show the value behind what you have to offer. 

Design is functional

Far from being a “fluffy” part of business, as it is sometimes wrongly thought of, good design serves a very practical and functional purpose. Whether it is helping customers to find their way around a website, or acting as a source of information to teach or inform your audience about a particular topic or subject, design is there to make your customer’s lives that little bit easier. It is also there to help bring your business sales. Because if you can make your customer’s lives easier and help guide them to the right answers, then you can also guide them to your business and to buying into your brand. 

Design is everywhere

Design is so commonplace that we often forget that it’s even there. Design isn’t just about the glossy two-page magazine spread, the billboard display, or a stunning looking website; design is also about how easy the payment gateway on your e-commerce site is to use, or whether or not a button on one of your marketing emails is big or clear enough. And while these seemingly minor details may not seem all that critical, they are as important to your marketing efforts as any visually beautiful piece of advertising, and will no doubt take up as much thought and work in ensuring that your marketing efforts are on the right track. 

Colours and fonts really do make a difference

Depending on what it is you are trying to achieve, seemingly minor elements of your design, like the colours and fonts that you choose to use, can make all the difference. Whether you want to make people feel happy, sad, inspired, creative, or motivated to buy, the colours and fonts you choose to use will subconsciously be doing the leg-work for you before your customers have even read the first word of copy in your advertising or the first sentence on your website. 

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we’ve worked with numerous businesses and organisations to improve their design and branding. We understand the difference that great design can make to your marketing efforts and how to use it effectively to help increase brand presence and sales. To find out more you can visit our contact page or get in touch by calling 02895072007.

The difference in e-commerce and Brochure websites

Strong website design is vital for any business and organisation, not just those selling online. At Kaizen Brand Evolution we match creativity and passion with the technical capability to develop your website into one your customers will love.

Online business has never been more competitive and so customers use our experience of working on many website projects across multiple industries to guide them through the online journey. We design basic brochure websites through to e-commerce mega-stores with thousands of SKU’s.

However, while each business may require a website, not every business will require the same type of site. Brochure websites and ecommerce websites are two totally different types of websites, both with different aims and advantages; it will really depend on the type of business you own and the aims you have for it. 

Today, we will go through both types of sites and why our clients choose either or.

E-Commerce Websites

What is an ecommerce website?

Simply put, e-commerce means to complete a transaction online, so an e-commerce website is a means of buying and selling goods and services online. Just as in a traditional shop you’d find on the high street, online retailers, or companies with an online presence, need a platform on which to build their online store and carry out transactions.

There are two aspects to an e-commerce website: a storefront and a checkout. The virtual storefront allows you to display your products and/or services so customers can find out about them, and the checkout allows them to securely pay for those goods and/or services

Why do our clients choose them?

For many businesses, their website is the first point of contact between buyer and seller. Many people do their shopping online now, for all sorts of goods and services. This means that having a website that’s both a visually pleasing and easy to use brochure of your website may not be enough. Depending on your business and industry, having the option for users to purchase your products or services directly from your website can be vital to ensure you don’t lose out on custom, or even fall behind competitors already offering this as an option.

Brochure Website‘s

What are they?

A brochure website is essentially a digital version of a printed brochure. They show the products or services your company provides, however, unlike an e-commerce website, they do not sell the product or service online. With a brochure website, the goods and services are only displayed, so customers will have to contact the company to place an order.

Brochure websites tend to be visually engaging, and the best brochure sites make the most of search engine optimisation to really get the noticed in search results. These websites can be accessed on desktops, smartphones, and tablets through any browser, so you can be sure your company is reaching the maximum number of people.

A well-made brochure website is great for promoting your business. Using effective words and captivating images, they can draw people in and really sell your products.

Why clients love them

Brochure websites are also great if you don’t want to have to spend too much time updating and managing a website. By simply designing a brochure website, you can leave it up on the internet and only update it as and when your services or prices change. 

Whatever your web design project, we’d love to hear from you. To discuss a website design project with our team, please fill in the contact form below or call us on 028 95072007.

Important stages of brand development that a designer has to go through

If you have established a new business and are thinking of making it popular through print media, then you must understand that this is not going to work. It is important for businesses to be present online these days. Because most of the people have started opting for online channels to buy, shop, and hire goods/services. Print media is a good way to inform people about your existence but it could prove successful locally. For the worldwide or nationwide reach of your business, you should be present online and must have a business website at least.

Merely having a website is not just going to help. You will have several competitors who are sharp and at a much higher position. You have to meet their standards and work in a unique way so that you can stand out among them. Your customers should recognize you which can only be possible if you have a strong brand personality. An attractive website, engaging content, and outstanding graphic design Belfast can make your website complete with all essential elements. Apart from this, it would later need a smart marketing strategy so that it could reach its potential audiences.

How Graphic designing is a silent ambassador of your brand?

Graphics designing plays a significant role in branding. People think that branding is done by marketing specialists, but the fact is somewhat different. It is a graphics and logo that are silent ambassadors of your brand.

If we talk in terms of business, a brand is a unique sign, symbol, words, design, or a combination of any of these that are used in creating an image that recognizes a product and distinguishes it from its competitors. In other words, a brand is a graphical illustration that audiences compare with a company or a product. An effective brand identity is the one in which customers associate with a high level of integrity and excellence.

Let’s check out our division of a branding process into some important stages which designers have to experience while creating any brand.

BUSINESS GOALS AND BRAND NATURE

Though it’s not the designer who decides business goals or defines its personality, still a designer plays a significant role in laying a foundation for the branding process. Of course, they would need to identify the character of the company or brand first before they start working on a visual part. If being a client you don’t give a designer a brief description characterizing your company, then how would he create graphics for your company.

One more thing that a business owner should know is that there is a big role of psychology in design. It can help designers understand user behavior and their possible reactions to the design. So, think from the designer’s perspective when you create your business goals.

MARKET AND USER RESEARCH

When the goals are set and the personality of the business appears to be clear, it’s time to start research work. The research helps to plunge into the situation of the upcoming brand and understand the fads which may impact its success.

Designers discover potential competitors and all about the current market trends. This could help them create a unique and effective logo and shape brand identity.  Designers cannot completely depend on the sense of beauty for designing website elements. They would need data on user preferences and their psychological peculiarities to come up with something unique as well useful.

LOGO DESIGN

A logo is the mark of brand identity and the most prominent symbol of a brand image. One cannot underestimate the role of logo design. It is considered as a foundation of an effective marketing approach empowering its connection with the target audience.

Here are some essential stages of the creative logo design process. These include:

  • Setting the Task
  • User Research
  • Marketing Research
  • Creative Search
  • Choice of Style Direction
  • Choice of Colour Palette
  • Testing in Different Sizes & Environments

After thorough research and collecting core information, designers move further to the artistic stage, i.e. logo creation. They choose the most suitable style direction and colour palette after going through various studies so that it will work best for a brand.

VISUAL ELEMENTS OF BRAND

Logo designing is not where the story of the designer ends. It is not the only visual representation of a brand. There are some more elements that deserve attention like mascots and typography. Every company wishes to personalize their brand and designers have a solution for them. Mascots are the custom design characters formed to signify the brand in an emblematic manner. They can be made as a part of a logo or present as a discrete element. A mascot can serve as a communication and interaction tool that can interact with users and help in transferring the message in a unique way. Typography is another visual element that is responsible for brand identity. Many logos look unique with the best use of typography.

CORPORATE BRAND STYLE

When the logo is ready, the color palette is selected, and other visual elements are all set, it’s time to bond them together into harmonic corporate style. It is necessary when a designer is working on branding tasks.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that branding is a complex process. Each step should be carefully performed based on the business goals as well as the needs of the target audience.