5 Tips for Annual Report Templates and Design
An annual report is a business’s yearly report to shareholders that documents the finances and activities of the business’s past year. Now more than ever, it is vital for businesses to present themselves in different perspectives, and annual reports have the ability to do just that. Nearly every organization or business out there needs to put together an annual report booklet to professionally document the company’s financial growth and overall mission.
The more clean and professional an Annual Report is, the more likely someone will actually read it. This is why PrintingCenterUSA provides reliable Annual Report templates for Adobe Suite Programs as well as helpful tips to help you create a high-quality booklet that will stand out from the crowd.
You may be asking yourself, “What even goes into an Annual Report?” or “Where can I find an Annual Report Template?” To help you out, we are going to answer these questions and much more.
Request a Free Sample Pack: Learn More
Get Instant Price: Learn More
1. What Topics Should I Include In My Annual Report?
Sometimes, it’s easier to get the important content together first before you even concern yourself with designing. Get together with your team to come up with content, statistics, graphs, and more to fill out answers to the following topics:
- Generally describe the industry that your company belongs to
- Company logo is a must
- Introduce your business’s mission and long-term goals
- Letter from the Founder or CEO addressing the company’s fiscal position
- Financial reports
- Describe the business from an overall standpoint from the past year
- Detail information that is relevant to the business’s various segments
- List the company’s executive officers and the number of employees in entire company
- List the Market Price of the organization’s stock
- And anything else that is relevant for your organization
2. Pick your Theme
Now that you have all of your content together, you can take the time to organize it along a theme. Facts and graphs aren’t enough to maintain the reader’s attention. Who will be reading your Annual Report? How can you appeal to them? Try to morph all of this information into a story that your readers will respond to.
Don’t forget to stay on brand with your theme. The theme should be in line with your company’s goals and mission. For example, if your company is a nonprofit, tell a purposeful story. Not only can you provide the information that is necessary, but you can use success stories from your organization’s efforts to tie the entire report together.
3. Create or Choose your Layout Design
If you have a professional designer on staff, great. Put together visual examples of annual reports that you like the style of in a “mood board” folder. This will help your designer create a template layout that will keep you happy.
Don’t stress if you don’t have a graphic designer on staff. There are many options for you to create an Annual Report Design that won’t haunt your dreams for the rest of the year.
9 Easy Steps for Designing the Perfect Layout: Learn More
If you have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, go visit Envato to browse the pre-made annual report templates. They’re cheap, there’s a ton of options, they’re editable, and they help guide you to a clean final product. There are some excellent creative annual reports to be found there. If buying a pre-designed template isn’t your style, then try our free blank downloadable templates. These will help you provide PrintingCenterUSA with a Print-Ready PDF.
Free Downloadable Templates: Learn More
However, if you don’t have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, then utilize our Free Online Design Tool! It’s very simple to use. Simply paste your content and images into the designer and you’re ready for print.
Booklet Design Tool: Learn More
No matter which route you go, make sure that your design stays in line with the brand identity of your business. From your annual report cover to your annual report layout, stay on brand. Colors, logos, and fonts will instantly tell the reader which company this annual report is coming from and the consistency will reassure them of your success.
4. Data Visualization
One thing you can’t avoid in creating an Annual Report is that…data can be boring.
When displaying your finances and various charts/graphs, make it pretty! Take the time (or pay the money) to create an easy-to-read method to data visualization.
Here are some data visualization resources to get you started:
When you get your data into a well-visualized chart, use it to create an infographic. Infographic pair data visualization with typography to help guide a reader through the information. Venngage offers some Fun Data Infographic templates that might be useful during this phase of report building!
5. Popular Annual Report Printed Specs
So you have the content, theme, layout design style, and data visualization figured out, what else could there be? It’s time to decide on the specs of your Annual Report Booklet. Here are some popular booklet specs for Annual Reports:
- Binding: Soft Cover Perfect Binding is our most popular binding type for Annual Report Printing. It is so professional that your shareholders will immediately be impressed. With Perfect Binding you can add text to the spine, so you can add the year on the side for easy navigation on the bookshelf.
Perfect Bound Printing: Learn More - Size: The most common size for Annual Reports is your standard 8.5 in x 11 in. If you’re looking to have a more edgy design, 5.5 in x 8.5 in is also very common for Annual Reports!
- Paper: We recommend 100# Gloss Text for the inside paper and 100# Gloss Cover for the Cover. This will ensure that your brand colors and images throughout your booklet will POP and keep the reader interested.
Choose the Perfect Paper: Learn More - Coating: Adding a High-Gloss UV Coating to your Annual Report booklet will add that extra level of professionalism as well as prevent scratching.
Now that you know what all needs to go into your annual report booklet and how to arrange it in an impactful way, I bet you’re not nearly as intimidated by the project. Even if you are, don’t forget that PrintingCenterUSA is here to help you. Give us a call at 800-995-1555 and we will be happy to assist you throughout the process.
