Annual Report Design

Education Annual Report

MARCH 2013 —Education is a top priority for the current administration, so policymakers in the education arena are bombarded with recommendations and reports of varying quality. The Brown Center at Brookings needed its deeply researched annual report to stand out in a crowded field. The design and layout of the report needed to support the Brown Center’s status as a recognized thought leader in education policy, and to add this extra layer of credibility to an already excellent product.

The Brown Center was looking for ways to create an attractive annual report design and a reliable production process for the report, so in 2009, they contacted the MillerCox Design team.

In response, MillerCox submitted a written agreement outlining design fees, printing costs, deliverables and deadlines, working backward from a deadline of early March. Next report cover design options were presented for review and approval so that we were prepared for the quick turnarounds necessary, once the final text was provided by the authors.

When the final text delivered, MillerCox and Brookings communicated on the phone and through Basecamp, an easy-to-use project management web application. This kept all of the report revision cycles easy to locate and manage. As we designed each section, we  posted the PDF file to Basecamp. Once these page proofs were edited by Brookings, they scanned the marked-up PDF, and posted it at Basecamp so it was easy for us to accurately make the client-requested changes, and this kept us on schedule and on budget.

While all of the design and production was taking place, MillerCox requested competitive printing bids. We sent paper mockups on the proposed paper so that our client could feel the weight and texture and make an informed decision. Finally, we provided the report as web-friendly PDF.

The printed reports delivered on time and the client wrote that she was happy with the process, the final design, and the printed result.