Annual Report costs: What to factor in
The cost of producing an annual report can vary wildly. We have delivered them for as little as £2k to as much as £40k. So where does your money go and what should you budget for when commissioning an annual report?
At Navig8 we get enquiries almost every day, asking for a ballpark cost for an annual report. We often get no page count, no idea of content or even the sketchiest idea of scope.
A surefire way of weeding out a time waster (and oddly there are many) is to ask some questions so that we can give our prospective client an estimate for the work.
So in this article, I’ll try to detail the things that a client might want to consider when defining a scope and setting a budget.
Page count
Knowing the final page count is vital to getting an accurate estimate and it is important to know that a 12-page report does not cost half of what a 24 page would. Ideally detail the number of pages in the ‘front end’ which usually has Highlights, the CEO’s report, the Strategic report and so on and the ‘back end’ which is the Financial Statements. The more detail you give, the more accurate the estimate.
If possible the best thing to do is provide draft content or even a previous year’s report, detailing what will change and what you would like to improve. We’ll take it as a given that you want the design to improve.
Charts diagrams and infographics
We are experts in drawing out top-level data and making them engaging in the form of infographics. We will show you examples of the ‘levels’ of design so you can judge the desired design values. Simple infographics take far less to produce than a more complex, engaging and visually appealing solution. They make a huge difference to the final report.
Again, if you have draft content or last year’s report we can help you identify the opportunities.
Icons and illustration
Organisations often use icons and the tend to be a miss-match bunch downloaded from the internet in all manner of styles. With the best will in the world, this approach will give an amateur approach. The right approach is to commission a custom set of icons that will belong to you and you only and you can then use them forever on anything you like.
We will help you define a list to create the ultimate set all within your brand style.
When we present concepts we sometimes offer up an illustrative solution. If that becomes the chosen route, then we will need to estimate the number we need to produce the whole report. What illustration does that stock photography cannot do is deliver a design solution that is unique to you. But only if that is appropriate and within brand.
Editorial involvement
There are multiple levels of editorial involvement that we can help with; from proofreading and brand compliance to editorial brand guidelines to copywriting. It is always best to get any editorial work done before the content gets into InDesign, we really need to work on the Word file. Any changes that we suggest will be shared with you before accepting what we suggest.
Photography, image search and selection
We are lucky that we work with a lot of companies on their annual, strategic, ESG, and modern slavery reports. The bigger organisations tend to have their own library of photographic images, but not everybody has that luxury, so if your organisation does not have that luxury (some would say necessity) then you may require us to perform a search and selection from stock libraries.
Factor in two hours of our time and the purchase costs… or… commission a photoshoot.
A photoshoot at your offices or plant/office isn’t as expensive as you might think and it will deliver excellent value. Shooting the board portraits on an iPhone may seem a simple and cheap solution, but the result rarely stands up. Why, when you are spending thousands of pounds on a report that communicates your values and ‘worth’ to your stakeholders would you scrimp on a £500 photoshoot? Especially when you will potentially have years of use? I don’t get it.
Along with custom icon generation, a photoshoot delivers the best value. We can sort the shoot, art direction, model release forms – everything. No matter where you are in the world. It is worth thinking about.
Number of revisions
We always estimate to include three sets of text amends, but it is a very rare report that gets delivered in three sets of text amends. In the 23 years, Navig8 has delivered annual reports, only once where three sets of amends were enough. Once. One report we did took in 19 sets of revisions.
So our estimates include a line that estimates additional rounds of text amends. Be aware, that revisions do cost money. If you really want to blow the budget, supply all the content, front end and all the financials, wait until the whole report is designed, and then – resupply new content. So we start again from scratch.
InCopy
InCopy is an Adobe product that allows the design team to ‘lock’ the design elements and allow clients to edit text straight into the InDesign document. It’s a great product and towards the last throes of making amends where a CFO can tweak their numbers to their heart’s content.
It is as cheap as chips, takes a little time to set up and requires almost no training. It’s a solution that helps keep costs down. That makes a change, doesn't it?
PDF specifications
When is a PDF not just a PDF? There are many different types of PDFs we can supply, these include:
Low res, screen optimised, but basically, a portrait document whose legacy lies with a print history
A print-ready PDF, is what it is
A low res landscape PDF more attuned to screen reading
An interactive PDF where the contents link to the section and all embedded URL ‘hand over’
A fully interactive PDF with embedded navigation, forwards and back arrows and a home button that takes you back to the contents page
A ‘flip book’ (not recommended)
A fully accessible PDF, screen reader ready with all of the alt tags and navigation functionality in place.
As you can see, a PDF is not just a PDF, or more importantly, what do you want you PDF to do and who is your audience and what PDF will best suit them?
Stakeholder comms
Even if you are not printing your annual report, there is usually some form of stakeholder comms that need to accompany the report. Whether it be an AGM notice or a letter from the board, for instance.
These do not need to be publications with high design values, but sending a Word file to what are you most important stakeholders probably isn’t the best idea when you are trying to present a positive front.
In the same vein, you don’t want to present a wasteful over-elaborate set of stakeholder comms. We can strike the right balance.
Print and fulfilment
If you are printing your report somebody has to take the annual report and the stakeholder comms, put it in an envelope and post it (on a particular day) to the investors and stakeholders.
It is a simple thing to do, but takes quite a bit of organisation, or as we say in the modern parlance, project management.
Stakeholders still like a physical report – it’s just the way it is. And because of this a printed report it sometimes still relevant – at least for now.
Digital and online
It is weird that I leave the last and most progressive annual report design solution to last, but here we are in 2023 and the legacy of annual report delivery remains with a basically print-based solution