Annual Report Designers
We’re the experts in Annual Report design.
Let’s make your next Annual Report Design better than the last one.
Effective design is one of the main issues you can face when considering your next Annual Report.
As these projects come around every year, it can sometimes be difficult to produce something that’s an improvement on the previous year. You need professional annual report designers.
Our creative team have years of experience and has worked on a wide range of Annual Reports across many different sectors.
Our design process will deliver you many options and potential creative directions for your report design, making us an Annual Report design agency worth talking to.
Recent Report Designs.
Led by Creative Director Mark Williams, the Toast Annual Report design team has over 25 years of experience in creating effective reports.
We understand that your report is far more than just the design work, and that’s why clients such as The National Lottery, The Kennel Club, The Science Museum, Brain Tumour Research, and The National Archives trust us to create effective reports that are well-received by their stakeholders.
What Makes a Great Annual Report?
Before diving into what makes Toast Design the best, let’s quickly establish what a strong annual report should deliver:
- Clarity: It should present financials and KPIs clearly and accessibly.
- Design Quality: It should reflect your brand and impress stakeholders visually.
- Storytelling: It should communicate your impact, strategy, and progress over time.
- Compliance: It must meet regulatory and accessibility standards.
- Multi-Channel Delivery: It should be effective both in print and online.
- Accessibility: It should be usable by all
Unfortunately, many annual reports fall short. They are packed with dense data, have generic layouts, and show little regard for reader experience.
Toast Design bridges that gap with insight-led, visually engaging design backed by over 25 years of brand and report experience.
What Types of Reports Do We Design?
We design a wide variety of business and organisational reports, including:
- Annual Reports
- Sustainability & ESG Reports
- Financial Statements
- Impact Reports
- Strategic Plans
- Integrated Reports
- Stakeholder Summaries
Whether you’re a charity looking to showcase your impact or a PLC communicating with investors, we adapt our approach to suit your audience and objectives.
Get a detailed proposal for your next report.
If you’d like a quote to design your Annual Report, complete the form and Mark will get in touch to discuss the next steps.
Traditional printed Annual report design
We’re highly experienced in designing Annual Reports for print and distribution.
Digital & PDF reports
As more organisations take advantage of digital Annual Reports, we design and build them too, often creating both print and digital versions.
Interactive Annual Reports
Interactive versions of both print and digital reports with navigation, video and animated options for the design and layout.
Accessibility options
We also design and build accessible PDF reports and guide you through the process.
Standard.
Where enhanced accessibility is not required: no restrictions on the use of colours, fonts, font sizes and layout.
WCAG level two.
The baseline for accessibility, compliance levels typically include fonts and colours.
WCAG level three.
Significantly stricter compliance rules that take into account fonts, colours, layout, line-return, navigation, and cognitive load. Interactive versions can also be designed however you need them to.
What this means for your report.
This type of report has no limitations in regard to the design and layout – it can be styled how you want it to be and does not adhere to any WCAG compliance.
What WCAG2 means for your report.
Baseline compliance is required, so fonts must be a certain size and colour contrast must be at an accessible level. To achieve this, there often has to be some compromise on the design and layout.
What WCAG3 means for your report.
This is accessibility over design. The report is designed to be accessible, which often means a simpler layout, larger fonts, and more limited content per page to avoid excessive cognitive load. This is designed for accessibility over branding.
Does your report need to be accessible?
If you want to reach the widest audience, you need to be accessible – if you have any questions about Annual Report accessibility, just give us a call and speak to Justin – he can talk through the requirements and their effects on design and budget.
We’ll help you find the creative balance between the branding, design and stakeholder expectations.
You have to get your Annual Report spot-on: perfect design, narrative, facts, figures and everything bundled into a solution that gets approval from marketing, finance and your all-important stakeholders.
How we can help
The Concept and Story
Define and present a clear story throughout your report. This gives us something to ‘hang the creative on’ and ensures your readers will engage with the report.
Infographics
A great way of conveying complex information in a bite-size way.
Typography
This is where the creative experience really comes in. Often Annual Reports need to meet strict typographic guidelines (such as font size) so it can sometimes be a balance between design and functionality.
Formats
It doesn’t have to be A4 and it doesn’t even have to be printed anymore. We’ll help you explore formats that will work best for your audience – from interesting formats to microsites.
Finishes
We’ll examine the wide range of potential finishing options for your Annual Report, from paper stock to binding options.
Accuracy
We know how important it is to ensure that everything in your Annual Report is correct.
Book a consultation call with Mark.
Mark is a co-founder and Design Director at Toast and has designed 100s of reports. Book a call today to discuss your project.
We’re members of The DBA.
The DBA is a renowned UK organisation, setting high standards in design and business. Membership is a badge of quality, indicating commitment to delivering top-notch design solutions grounded in solid business principles.
DBA membership signifies a dedication to impactful design. This focus on effectiveness underscores the DBA’s philosophy that design drives business success.
Engaging a DBA member agency ensures your design needs are met by professionals adept at integrating design with business strategy.
We’re responsible.
We’re accredited by The Good Business Charter.
The Good Business Charter is an accreditation in recognition of responsible business practices.
Accredited organisations include FTSE100 companies, partnerships, local authorities, universities, SMEs, charities and sole traders.
An organisation must meet all 10 commitments to receive GBC Accreditation.
Case study: The Kennel Club
At the time of writing, we are currently working on The Kennel Club’s Annual Report for the third year.
The Kennel Club rely on us to deliver a perfect Annual Report and make good use of all our creative services, including:
- Planning
- Design & Artwork
- Content writing and editing
- Infographic design
- Image editing and AI work
- Proofing
- Delivery in multiple formats
Being able to deliver all the services they need for the annual report saves our clients time, money and stress.
Crafting Clear and Impactful Annual Reports:
“A typical, modern annual report has at least two main sections (whether these are officially designated or not): a financials section, and a brand story section, where the financial year is represented through the lens of objectives, challenges and achievements.
In appearance, these can be quite different. A financial section is made up of tables, charts and notes to the accounts, whereas the year’s digest is more magazine-like in appearance, with flowing text, photography, pull quotes and so on. Our experience means we can make sure this disparity is addressed visually. There are subtle tweaks and adjustments we can instill in typography and graphic elements that ensure the design is recognisably consistent throughout the whole document.
Often, clients assume that the financials will look dry and laclustre in comparison to the story section, but this is definitely avoidable. There are limitations to how much ‘design’ you can apply to a table, but there’s room to incorporate an engaging brand for sure.”
Justin Brown
Graphic Designer
Your Annual Report design team.
Adam Buttress
Mark Williams
Chris Tymon
Justin Brown
Anzonie Carpenter
Alex Roe
Annual Report design clients
We work with businesses, corporations, charities, NFPs, NGOs, universities, and institutions.
Our studio.
The best creative is done by a team that works together.
Toast is based in a Victorian townhouse in Oxfordshire, and all the team members work in the studio to generate the best creative work.
We’re not a small agency; we do all our Annual Report design in-house with our team: no freelancers or outsourced projects.
Our Annual Report Design Process
Research, planning and deadlines.
We understand the tight deadlines and pressure that producing an Annual Report can place on our clients, so we get all the research together and plan dates for project milestones so all stakeholders know exactly what is happening and when.
Mood boards, stylescapes and initial creative research.
Our creative approach depends very much on the nature of the project – we explore appropriate creative direction for the project and ensure that all design work is 100% on-brand and in line with stakeholder expectations.
Initial design concepts.
We produce initial design concepts to present our best creative ideas for your report’s look and feel. We’re an agency that focuses on using design to deliver the substance of your report, not design for the sake of it.
Annual Reports should be easy to digest but not dull. They should lead the narrative, deliver strategic insight, and be easy to navigate. These factors are all fully explored in the initial creative stages.
Content review includes report data, infographics, image assets, and other content.
All Annual Reports have different types of content; some are data-heavy with lots of tables and financials, while others use infographics to display data. Reviewing the content and planning the best way to articulate your vision and facts is crucial to a report that resonates with your stakeholders.
Design development (typically involving several rounds of refinement as we start to work up the concepts into more finalised designs.
This stage focuses on developing the initial design concepts that will complement your content. We’ll examine your report’s key sections, from the opening statement to the financial tables.
Art-working, proofreading, editing, and sign-off.
Once the design work is approved, precision artwork comes into play as we assemble every section of your report. We understand that sign-off procedures, last-minute deliveries, and changes to financials are all part of the process, so we factor all this in.
Production (be that the printing of a physical report or the creation of something digital).
Not all reports end up as ink on paper. We are increasingly producing digital copies through interactive PDF files, microsites and other non-printed options for reports. However, if you need the final version, we can provide you with a report in all the formats you need.
Understanding what you need for your Report.
The design and production of an Annual Report is not a straightforward project.
With internal and external stakeholders to please, often complex financials and a story to tell, you need an experienced agency to deliver a successful report.
Our focus is planning, precision and delivery: we know how important your project is, and we won’t let you down.
Annual Report Design FAQs
No two reports that we create are the same, but we’ve answered some common questions about the design and production of Annual Reports below. If you have a specific question, just get in touch, and we’ll answer it directly.
How long does the Annual Report design process take?
You have your deadlines, and we work toward them. This is an important part of the Annual Report design process; deadlines are fixed, not flexible.
How do we ensure accuracy in the design process?
With lots of financial data, precision is crucial for an Annual Report. Our internal QA process ensures everything is correct, and our experience in dealing with both financial data and the language of finances ensures that everything is correct.
Can we work with last-minute changes?
There has never been an Annual Report without at least a few last-minute changes to the financials – we factor this into the project, and we know they are coming, so it’s all built into our process.
Do we speak your language?
Something often missed by inexperienced Annual Report design agencies is the need to understand what we are working with. As we’ve designed many large reports, we are well-versed in the financial language of reports.
What formats can you deliver?
Everything from print through to micro-websites (all in-house). We regularly create multiple versions of reports in print, large print, online and interactive PDFs, all created to meet WCAG accessibility guidelines.
Can we handle regulatory disclosures and compliance sections?
We’re very familiar with this sort of content, including risk statements, disclosures and other compliance content, and ensure this type of content is presented clearly and professionally.
How do we collaborate with teams?
There is rarely one person who manages an Annual Report, so we use Basecamp to allow for quick and easy project communication, no matter how many members of your team need to get involved. Everyone can access all messages, and we use to-dos to assign tasks internally and externally.
Can we help with the content?
We have two in-house copywriters, so we can provide copywriting, editing, and proofreading as needed. We can also work with you to refine your copy or write it for you if necessary.
How do you deal with amends?
We can work with marked-up hardcopies or PDFs for amends, but we prefer to use Pastel, which is an online mark-up tool that allows your team to browse and comment directly on the PDF, leaving notes and comments that form a list to work through and tick-off as completed. This is an incredibly easy and efficient way to send us your comments and feedback.
Can you cope with large reports?
With six dedicated report designers and a further ten staff working across content and digital projects, we’re a large enough agency to handle even the largest of Annual Reports.
Do you source images and other assets?
Yes – we can help you with images and all other types of content for your report. For digital reports, we can also create videos in-house to further enhance your report.
What am I going to need to invest?
We find that most Annual Report projects have allocated budgets, as they are important projects. Our charges are based on what you are asking us to do, so it varies from project to project.
We deliver.
Most projects have deadlines, but we know that Annual Report deadlines are ones that won’t budge an inch.
We’re a responsive agency that’s proactive in our approach and we use project management tools to organise every stage and step of the project, keeping every stakeholder in the loop and ensuring deadlines are not missed.
If you are looking for a new agency for your next annual review, you might like to consider a different form of relationship with them. Check out our new Creative Design Subscription, tailored to the needs of professionals looking for quick turn-around, high volume and no-nonsense design.
Our Annual Report clients
What our clients say
First-class service.
Many of our clients return year after year to work with us on their Annual Reports.
We regularly work with clients year after year to simplify update last year’s Annual report or update it with a completely new design for the year.
Making your Annual Report even more accessible.
Annual Reports can be more than just ink on paper.
We can take your final Annual Report and turn it into an interactive PDF for viewing online.
There’s also the option of creating a WordPress-powered microsite for your report, where it can become even more interactive by collecting viewer comments.
Accessibility is more important than ever, so we can also help you ensure your Annual report is WCAG 2.0 Compliant, here’s an example we’ve creative for the National Lottery Community Fund.
Attention to detail.
When it comes to producing an Annual Report, we sweat the small stuff.
Nothing annoys stakeholders more than errors in an Annual Report. No matter how good the design is, typos or data errors can trigger a wave of negative feedback.
As we specialise in designing Annual Reports, we have the expertise to ensure that your report is error-free when it’s delivered to your stakeholders.
Our internal QA procedures, ease of feedback, and familiarity with last-minute amends to the financials mean you can be 100% confident that everything is 100% correct.
Attention to detail.
When it comes to producing an Annual Report, we sweat the small stuff.
Nothing annoys stakeholders more than errors in an Annual Report. No matter how good the design is, typos or errors in the data can cause a wave of negative feedback.
As we specialise in designing Annual Reports, we have the expertise to ensure that your report is error-free when it’s delivered to your stakeholders.
Our internal QA procedures, ease of feedback and familiarity with incredibly important last-minute amends to the financials mean that you can be 100% confident that everything is 100% correct.
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