An Unprecedented Report
Pushing the boundaries of print design for the Jefferson Scholars Foundation
For many organizations, an annual report is the print artifact of the year. Because of its prominence, there can be a tendency to protect the annual report as something precious, to keep it looking the same year after year.
But when an organization has a groundbreaking year, it needs a groundbreaking print artifact. This was the case for the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia. They asked Journey Group, a longtime design partner, to reimagine their 2017 annual report.
The challenge
In a year of huge milestones for the Foundation, the annual report needed to visually embody their theme for the year: unprecedented. The Foundation team was eager to do something different, and so they trusted Journey Group to explore uncommon design choices to showcase their year.
Journey Group designed the past six annual reports for the Foundation, so the team was working with familiar territory. Drawing from those years of experience, Journey Group decided to reassess the form factor of the book, with the Foundation’s blessing.
The work
Journey Group’s team, composed of an art director, designer, photographer and content strategist, decided to keep the same vertical dimension of the book from past years. Thus, on a shelf, the annual reports would still align vertically in a pleasing fashion — but the width would expand, with variable page sizes used within.
With these differing forms, the designers tackled the organization of the book and the relationship between the many page sizes, assessing what content was hidden and what was visible from form to form. The multiform book was chosen not because it was trendy, but because it expressed the Foundation’s style: understated elegance meets bold ideas. A reader sees a sophisticated cover and opens it to find an engaging surprise in the variety of forms.
The art director also selected different paper stocks for the forms, providing a tactile experience for readers flipping through the pages. The cover and first form have different textures, and the second and third forms use the same coated stock to enhance the gold metallic ink used throughout. A new typeface, Dala Floda, was also added to the Foundation’s brand toolkit. This stencil serif typeface was used in specific ways, concentrating on headlines and pull quotes.
With the expanded form factor, the design team could entertain more white space for the content. Big, beautiful quotes, with ample breathing room, were sprinkled throughout the book, so that the words were given more weight. The creative form of the book was also influenced by content strategy, with the team’s strategist determining new ways to use recurring stories and selecting quotes from the Foundation’s president to introduce sections of the book.
Journey Group also shot the photos throughout the book, using custom and art-directed imagery to complement the design. The photography communicated an aspirational mood, with sun flares and warm tones, showcasing how the architecture of the Foundation intentionally creates a beautiful space for students.
The result
The 2017 annual report is a book brimming with careful attention to detail, with each element considered through the lens of the Foundation’s mission.
“Not only did Journey Group bring so much energy and creativity to the table, but they were responsive and helpful every step along the way. They have a way of making you feel like they are an extension of your team and like you are working with your own colleagues in the next office over,” says Joyce Carman, associate director of graduate and undergraduate programs at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.
“This year was different. Journey Group helped us take it to the next level with an innovative design and format.” — Joyce Carman, Jefferson Scholars Foundation
“The annual report has always been a showcase piece for the Foundation. Thousands of our volunteers, benefactors, alumni, scholars, fellows and their families receive a copy, and we always receive positive feedback from them when they do,” Carman says.
“But this year was different. Journey Group helped us take it to the next level with an innovative design and format. We received countless emails, phone calls, and notes in the post about how sharp the publication looks, and we could not be more pleased with how it turned out.”
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