Collaboration is an essential part of the design process
Collaboration is not only the theme of NHC’s 2019 Annual Report – it is also a fundamental aspect of OtherWisz’s design philosophy. From the start of our Kick-off meeting, we listened to NHC so that we could establish a clear set of goals for what they were looking to accomplish. Through the design process, our team developed layouts, type treatments, and the overall visual style of the report while NHC prepared the written content. Sharing feedback during our preliminary drafts allowed the client to review and approve the direction of the design without having to wait for the content to be finalized. This kept both teams on track, helping the project move forward in a timely manner.
Designing within established brand guidelines
As is often the case when working with established organizations, it was necessary to accommodate NHC’s existing brand guidelines into the the annual report’s design. Our goal was to achieve a sophisticated, yet welcoming aesthetic using the client’s existing brand, as well as incorporating some graphic elements from their website. This helped to bring the report in line with all of their other marketing materials.
The mood of the NHC annual report is defined by the use of color. Our design focuses on the warm support colors of NHC’s palette to convey compassion. We used their brand orange and yellow (adjusted for contrast to meet accessibility standards) to create a light, comforting feeling while avoiding the more clinical, cool tones often used in health care branding. OtherWisz selected stock images that meshed with the client’s existing photography to fit their theme while highlighting a patient’s care in a genuine manner.
Visually defining areas of importance
For this year’s annual report, NHC included several informative feature sections to highlight their collaborative work towards improving health care in the community. Full length write-ups on each topic are accompanied by full page images and detailed captions describing NHS’s work on student health and education, food insecurity, and outreach. These double page spreads draw attention this message allowing it stand out from the cut-and-dry facts and numbers that is typical of annual reports.
For the cover, we explored a variety of design options, working with the the client to find the best way to communicate the content within the report. A modular layout of color blocks and community events photos takes cues from the internal feature pages, establishing a cohesive design both inside and out.
Services
- Annual Report Design
- Brand Development
