They don't bore you! Give me your favorite examples of effective reports.

August 30, 2012 11:47 AM

Here's a question for all you designers, policy people, business and non-profit types. Can you think of your favorite examples of reports available online- whether they be policy papers, business plans, annual reports or otherwise? "Favorite" can mean any number of criteria, such as use of design, video, narrative structure, how information is presented, or style and structure of organization.

I'm doing some freelance work helping a non-profit do their first annual report, and I'd like to start by giving them some really compelling and effective examples to think about and work with, including examples from the NGO, non-profit, and corporate worlds.

One of my personal favorites, for example, are Transparency International's annual reports (sample here) and I'd love to find others.

posted by foxy_hedgehog to writing & language (7 answers total)

I really like the Right Brain Initiative's annual reports (pdf).
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:04 PM on August 30, 2012

GAO
posted by massysett at 12:09 PM on August 30, 2012

Nicholas Felton's Annual Reports are beautiful.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:11 PM on August 30, 2012

1. GiveWell's charity evaluation questions aren't reports themselves, but might help your folks think about potential readers' questions as they write theirs

2. Don't know if I'd call these public health infographics "stunning," as the title does, but they are both visually appealing and informative.
posted by homelystar at 1:04 PM on August 30, 2012

Please, please, please never write a report like those Felton reports if you're actually trying to convey actual information to your audience. My god what a train wreck of self indulgence.
posted by Yowser at 3:34 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Proof in the pudding : I just did a research and found out Felton is the jerk responsible for Facebook's Timeline, in particular arbitrarily splitting the timeline down the middle, making items jump from left to right and vice versa. I think I hate this man.
posted by Yowser at 3:38 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was recently looking for examples of the same thing. Here is the best resource I found: Best Design Options
posted by Eicats at 9:00 AM on August 31, 2012