How we work with clients to achieve great report design 

Reports are chunky pieces of work. Whether you’re crafting an annual report, presenting valuable research to your industry or launching a strategy for the future of your organisation they’re an investment of time and resources. At Clark we help our clients maximise that investment by taking carefully written content and using design to ensure it lands well with its intended audience. 

But what does that process look like? Here’s how we do it the Clark way… 

It starts with a conversation 

You do the talking; we do the listening and learning. At Clark we love to immerse ourselves in client organisations and projects to properly understand the objectives and audience better, which are crucial steps in helping us create a final product that really shines. 

Do the research 

Armed with that overview our next step is to roll up our sleeves and do the research. We want to understand your sector, your audience and your content (yes, we’re nerds). We’ll investigate what’s going on in your market, search out design inspiration and make our recommendations on the best formats and platforms for your report. We’ll also make sure we understand what’s important to you and your audience in terms of accessibility.  

Finding the right direction 

Taking that research, we’ll define design directions and create mood boards which visually present where we’d like to take your design. Want to see something perfectly on-brand vs something a little ‘out there’? No problem. We can play around with that at this stage. We’ll also make suggestions on features which will take your report to the next level, whether that be bespoke illustrations, data visualisation or interaction design, these are all things Clark can do for you. 

We present our mood boards to you so that you can feedback on them – we like to keep the conversation going.  

Design the concepts 

When we’re sure that you’re happy with the design directions we’ve identified we’ll unleash our creative powers to create design concepts which allow you to see how your final report will take shape. Based on your content we may show you examples of page spreads, imagery, data visualisation and interaction design. Once this is done it’s over to you to give us your verdict. Based on your feedback on these central elements, we’ll make any necessary updates to your chosen design concept. 

Create the full report 

Now that we have a creative concept chosen it’s time to take your report content and give it the full design treatment. At this stage we create a full first draft of your report so that you can see your content in all its glory.  

The final polish 

Now for the brass tacks. You’ll have the opportunity to review the report to ensure that it’s looking perfect from a design, layout and content point of view. You’ll also have the chance to see how your report will work if you’ve opted for a digital or hybrid option. We’ll make any edits and changes that you need.  At this stage, we’ll bet you have some copy changes.  So, once those are done, the very final stage of any report process should be a full proof-read. If you don’t have the time or expertise in-house Clark can do that for you too.  

Once the design is perfect and you’re happy with the content, we’re ready to sign off and move on to production.  

Production 

The production process may involve print, it may involve creating accessible or translated versions of your document or testing an interactive document. Whichever direction you’ve chosen Clark will handle it all and deliver a report which you’ll be proud to send out into the world.  

Keep the conversation going 

You now have a stunning report, but the process shouldn’t end there. At Clark we are masters of communication; with in-house specialists in integrated campaigns we can create a tailored communications plan, including graphic assets to support the roll out of your report for maximum engagement with your audience.  

Take a look at some of the work we’ve completed for our clients.