Ascent Fostering Agency

Ascent Fostering Agency is an independent fostering agency dedicated to recruiting, training and supporting foster carers across the UK. Their work directly impacts the lives of vulnerable children, and their annual report is an important document for demonstrating their outcomes to regulators, commissioners and prospective carers. The report needed to feel professional and credible while also being warm and human – reflecting the nature of the work they do.

Ascent needed a fully designed 28-page annual report that could be delivered as a print-ready digital PDF. All written content and data were supplied by the client. Our role was to create two initial design concepts covering the cover and internal page layouts, develop the chosen direction into a complete document, produce custom infographic elements and charts to visualise key statistics, and supply the final files ready for distribution.

We began with an initial meeting to discuss the project, understand the audience and agree on the tone and visual direction. From this we developed two initial design layouts, exploring different approaches to the cover and internal page structure. This stage allowed the client to see contrasting directions before committing to a final route, ensuring the chosen design genuinely suited their needs.

With the design direction agreed, we produced the full 28-page document to the approved template. This included typesetting all client-supplied copy, creating bespoke infographic elements and data charts to present key statistics clearly, and building out a complete first draft.

Once all amends were signed off, we prepared the final report as a high-quality digital PDF suitable for both screen viewing and print. Files were packaged and supplied to the client, ready for distribution to stakeholders, funders and foster carers.

Annual reports for organisations like Ascent often contain a significant amount of statistical information – placement numbers, carer training hours, inspection outcomes and more. Rather than presenting this as plain text, we designed custom infographic elements and charts to make the data engaging and easy to digest. This helps the report communicate impact at a glance, which is particularly valuable for busy commissioners and regulators reviewing multiple documents.