ALIGN WITH YOUR EXISTING DESIGN ELEMENTS
In a perfect world, the process of developing your organization’s Annual Report is a satisfying task of reviewing progress toward your goals, deciding on photos and profiles to include, and thanking your donors. The director writes a heartfelt letter, and you go to press!
But if your organization is starting (or restarting or reworking) your Annual Reports and the process to create them, it can be a stressful and daunting challenge. A lot happened in the past year, and you likely have many people to thank and many events to report on. What are the “best” statistics to include, and which are the most compelling stories to share?
Our job was to shine a spotlight on the communities and tell the KYMEA story before it’s even been written. Here’s what we did to ensure that the finished product was one their entire team would be proud of:
Readability is a major goal for an effective Annual Report. Morgan broke up the branding elements that KYMEA provided to keep readers’ interest and assist with the flow of information.
“I really enjoyed working with a new company that had freshly established brand standards. The fluent colors made the report upbeat and easy to read. We took their building block theme and found a way to bring it to the forefront of every page. As the report continues, each page builds with more blocks to complete the company story. The end result was a collection of information and graphics that tell a cohesive story for their company.” - Morgan Fletcher, Hatfield Media Graphic Designer.
EVOKE EMOTION
People make decisions based on emotion. It’s human nature. Even the most fact-driven readers respond well to a combination of facts and stories, especially when the two forms of communication reinforce each other. The KYMEA team wanted the Community Spotlight section to feature a locally owned business that had made a significant difference in one of their member communities. The Country Cupboard in Madisonville, Kentucky was a perfect choice.
“It has been a fantastic experience working with the Hatfield Media team! I knew from the first meeting with Hatfield that we had found the right people for the job. Throughout the entire process, Hatfield displayed a tremendous level of professionalism and organization. Ashley and Morgan were easy to work with and went out of there way to get the job done. We set out a very aggressive timeline and they cheerfully rose to the challenge. When we told them that we wanted to cover a story in our Annual report but we needed them to travel an hour and a half to get some pictures and interviews they never hesitated. Thank you to Hatfield, for making it a real success and producing a beautiful product.”
- MICHELLE HIXON, KYMEA OFFICE MANAGER
FOCUS ON DATA POINTS
Traditional annual reports are lengthy written documents that can drown a reader in information. Our goal was to share the most important pieces of data within KYMEA, and the infographic format provided the best overall impact. These pages highlighted who they are as an organization, who their audience is, and the story they wanted to tell. Sharing the details of KYMEA’s financial health through the addition of their audit and financial statements was a key communication within the report.
To view the full KYMEA Annual Report, visit their website: https://www.kymea.org/about-kymea/annual-reports
