Inspiration: Top 25 Annual Report Designs
Annual Reports are usually boring printed numbers to show where a company stands. In this series we take a closer look at good designed annual reports, which can improve a professional approach and staying ahead of your competition.
An annual report is a document a company presents at Annual General Meeting for approval by its shareholders, or a charitable organization presents its trustees.
1. Featured showcase: IMC Annual Report

For IMC, Fitzroy designed a unique annual report. IMC – a renowned derivative trading house with over 500 employees worldwide – is an active trader in almost every stock market in the world. They constantly have to deal with stock exhanges’ information and its ever changing highs and lows.

In the annual report, this information is translated in a unique way by showing in 24 pages the 24 hours of a trading day. Which stock exhange opens and which one closes; what information is relevant. By using the green (increase) and red (decline) filters, the data of a hectic trading day are pushed to the background, so that only IMC’s active fields (the stock markets and the arrows) remain visible.

A final detail: based on GMT the stock exchanges trading at night are displayed in blue, while the ones trading during the day are displayed in yellow.
- Visit the design company Fitzroy for more information.
Out of the box designs
The following design examples are great inspiration for out of the box thinking.
2. Agency: Kuhlmann Leavitt

This impactful piece captures the reader with exquisite black and white photography and classic yet whimsical typography customized to each shot.
- Visit the agency Kuhlmann Leavitt for more information and photos
3. Agency: Bruketa Zinic

Well Done: a food company annual report that has to be cooked first. Croatian creative agency Bruketa & Zinić have designed an annual report for food company Podravka that has to be baked in an oven before it can be read.
- Visit the design company Bruketa Zinic
- See this great full pictured article about this exceptional annual report.
4. Agency: Migreyes

Unique annual report that highlights Konami’s goal to target beyond Japan.
- Visit the detailed information about Konami’s Annual Report at Migreyes
5. Feltron

A unique layout and information presenting annual report from Feltron.
- Take a look at the website for more photos and screenshots of Feltron’s Annual Report
Simply beautiful Annual Report Design
Just beautiful annual report design with great color usage, typography and photo use.
6. British Council Annual Report

Navig8 won in a bid against the British Council’s prestigious list of suppliers to design and print manage their annual report.
- Visit the Navig8 website for more information.
7. Airtricity Annual Report

Great design, creative view on getting numbers to look attractive. The photos and quotes included in this annual report are great designed.
- Take a look at the agency website for more information.
8. Catalyst Recruitment

Our clients will no doubt have a clearer understanding of the diversity of our business and specialist areas and we would have no hesitation in recommending Lemonade to other customers due to their professional service, follow through and innovative creative design.
- Visit the website Lemonade Agency for more information about this fabulous annual report.
9. Agency Methodologie

Univar NV is one of the world’s leading independent distributors of industrial chemicals and providers of related specialty services, operating throughout North America and Europe. Designed by Methodologie, an award winning design agency with a creative view on annual reporting.
- Visit the website Methodologie for more information and their portfolio.
10. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Annual Report

This annual design is designed with many photos and good typography usage. This serious subject is presented in a great designed annual report.
- Visit the website and download the complete PDF annual report.
11. Stedelijk Museum Jaarverslag

The design Agency Deel Drie designed the annual report for Het Stedelijk museum Amsterdam, with large black/white headlines combined with colorful photos this is great work.
- Visit the website and download the complete annual report for Het Stedelijk Musuem.
12. Geest Annual Report

Designed by Navyblue, the Geest annual report has won the ProShare Award for Best Annual Report for Private Investors (FTSE 500) for an unprecedented five years in succession.
- Visit the agency website for more information
13. Agency Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group

Legacy’s campaigns are designed to engage, and this report had to do the same. That strong cover statement—“The Story of the Year”—leads the reader into a variety of campaign voices and intimate portraits backed by strong colors.
- Visit the website from Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group for more information.
14. Agency SamataMason

For Strategic Hotels and Resorts SamataMason designed a wonderful paper sculptor and the typography.
- Visit the website from SamataMason for more information.
15. Agency Sibley/Peteet Design Austin

For Tropical Sportswear Sibley/Peteet Design Austin created a beautiful crafted annual report, titled “The Perfect Pair”, the front cover communicates the title on a hang tag on the back pocket of a pair of khakis.
- See the website for more information and examples.
16. BNP Paribas Annual Report

BNP Paribas Assurance develops and markets savings, protection and property & casualty insurance products in 42 countries under two brands, those brand are financially reported in this nice designed annual report.
- Visit the website BNP Paribas for a full PDF version of the Annual Report 2006 and 2007.
17. The Equality Authority

An attractive and innovative document that reaches out and communicates very effectively with the very diverse audience we strive to serve.
- Visit the website for more information and a full PDF download.
18. Annual Report Transparency International 2006

Transparency International’s Annual Report 2006 showcases last year’s successes for the anti-corruption movement, as well as innovation in measurement tools, targeted advocacy work and sector-specific projects from TI chapters.
- Visit the website Transparency to download the full PDF version.
19. Overall design tips for Annual Report Design

A well-written and designed annual report is a must to reinforce a hard won reputation. Stakeholders need to be assured the organisation is not in the business of cutting corners or taking the easy way out
- Visit the website for more tips about annual reporting design.
Worth mentioning
- 20. Delta Lloyd Jaarverslag, the complete annual report viewable as a website or to download from the website.
- 21. Unilever Jaarverslag, download the complete PDF version from the website.
- 22.Koninklijke Ahold Jaarverslag, download the complete PDF version from the Ahold website.
- 23.IBM Annual reporting, available from 1994 to 2007, download the complete PDF versions from the website.
- 24. IMF Annual report, available from 1996 to 2007, download the complete PDF versions from the website.
- 25. A complete huide for annual reports, visit the website AnnualReport.com for additional information.
- 26. StepInside, a design related website with top 100 company’s and annual reporting, see the website for additional information.
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20 Responses to “Inspiration: Top 25 Annual Report Designs”
Sketchee
June 1st, 2008
These reports are as pretty as anything in design. I think if I had heard a designer say he or she did annual reports, I wouldn’t have believed they would be so fun to look at
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Mig Reyes
June 2nd, 2008
Hey, thanks for posting my work! It’s an honor to be included among 24 other fantastically design annual reports, love the blog!
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Sander Baumann

June 2nd, 2008
SketcheeI totally agree with you, annual reports don’t have to be boring!
Mig ReyesThank you for stopping by and giving a comment, I like your work and I believe you did a great job for the Konami Annual Report.
3.
Henrik Lied
June 3rd, 2008
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation has a great annual report, too!
http://www.nrk.no/aarsrapport/2007/#forsiden?sk=no
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MGH NOW
June 13th, 2008
These are great examples of creative annual reports. Most people don’t realize that annual reports are important marketing vehicles and should be just as creative as any other marketing piece. Check out our MGH Now blog for a design director’s take on creating sexy annual reports: http://now.mghus.com/?p=186
5.
Rich
August 27th, 2009
Thanks for the collection. I am inspired in my designing of financial reports and the presentation of information. Cheers
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yafa sakkejha
September 22nd, 2009
this is so helpful!! thank you so much! beautiful.
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travis
October 13th, 2009
these designs are beautiful.
it’s a pity that so many businesses undervalue the power of good design to turn something that is usually quite dry into a journey that people will want to take, and that they’ll remember and interact with.
considering that this information goes to shareholders, it must instill a great sense of confidence in them to see a report that works as much as an advert for the business as it does as a vital business document.
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Andy
October 19th, 2009
Really beautiful list and a great source of inspiration. Hats off to all the designers that took part in making these. Thanks for putting it together and sharing it with us.
9.
Guy
November 7th, 2009
Great list! And most of all: very inspirational.
Though when it comes to the financial part of an annual report, creativity in for instance table design or graph design seems to receive little attention. Do any of you know great examples to proof me wrong?
10.
lyna riyanto
December 1st, 2009
Thanks for the list, helpfull and gave me inspirations to finish my work.
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Pavan K
January 18th, 2010
Great list. Thanks for the inspiration. I particularly liked the range of designs in here to show suitability for different brands and different messages. PS - Congratulations - you are now number one and at the top in Google for the search term “100 best annual report designs”.
Checked out a few of these great design agencies and one of the most inspirational, varied and vast portfolio’s was that of the Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group:
http://www.hzdg.com/
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Pavan K
January 18th, 2010
Here is the direct link to the Annual Report Design overview for the British Council. Some nice previews of the inside pages:
http://www.navig8.co.uk/pages/portfolio/charity/british_council/british_council_annual_report_2007-2008/
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Pamela Toomey
January 26th, 2010
The word “exchanges” is spelled incorrectly on your home page in the paragraph under “1. Featured Showcase: IMC Annual Report.” The “h” is missing.
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Rene
February 4th, 2010
Hello… We are a Mexican design firm, we design annual reports, consult our website to know us
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