Best Practices for Large Reports

Long Reports Best Practices

How we create long digital and print reports at Teal

The longer the report, the more important it is to adhere to best practices to make the process run smoothly. Setting up the project for success early on helps avoid a snowball effect later, wherein seemingly small edits take a long time to update across many pages.

Our Process

1. Client sends Teal a request for a designed report, with as much detail about content and timelines as possible. At a minimum, clients should provide draft copy and a target launch/due date for Teal to keep in mind as they are reviewing the request.
2. The Teal Project Manager will review the request, and once all final assets are received they will work with the designers, art director, and client to develop an appropriate scope and timeline for the project. Scope and timeline are dependent on:
   • Length of report
   • Custom illustrations and/or graphicsCharts and graphs
   • Sourcing photography
   • Complexity of report design
   • Finalization of copy
   • Rounds of revisions needed
   • If final design needs to be editable
   • What program(s) the report needs to be designed in
   • Meetings needed to complete the project (i.e. project kickoff, moodboard presentations, discovery calls, etc.)
3. Depending on the needs of the project, we may hold a kickoff call. The Teal Project Manager will schedule a Kickoff call with the project team and all key stakeholders. Before the meeting, the Teal project team will review the project materials and prepare any questions they need answered before they can get started .
4. The Project Manager builds and delivers a project timeline to the Client. The Teal Project Manager works with the project team to determine approach, scope, and timeline, and then sends it to the client for approval.
5. If scoped, we deliver moodboards and/or core pages. In instances where the report or report cover is in a completely new visual style, our first deliverable may be moodboards and/or core pages. Moodboards are a bit more abstract and usually include colors, typography, and a collage of inspirational references. Core pages are slightly more concrete, in which we use your actual content to design a few pages of the report to show styles. Whether/which we include is up to the Art Director’s discretion!
   • Since this phase is where we establish the foundational visual elements of the report, significant revisions to those foundational elements later in the project could affect the timeline.
6. Client delivers report content. In-progress copy should be shared before the moodboards/core pages phase, if that is part of the project. Copy that is very close to final is due by the beginning of v1 of designs at the latest. See below for more best practices on delivering copy for large reports.
7. Teal starts design! Often, especially for longer reports, in V1 we will provide 50% of the content designed, then V2 will show 100% of the content, and V3 will serve to revise overall. This kind of breakdown will be established by the project team and will be communicated to the client when the timeline is delivered.
   • Teal most frequently designs long reports in Adobe InDesign, and recommends this as the best and most reliable way to develop reports. If a report needs to be created in Microsoft Word and Google Docs, we have that capability, but the design will be radically simplified and more prone to accessibility and usability issues.
8. Client provides feedback, and we implement rounds of revisions as scoped. See below for best practices around providing feedback.
9. Report is finalized, and Teal shares all relevant project files. We will provide PDFs optimized for print or digital depending on the needs of the report, as well as any editable working files if requested. If the report will be printed, we most often hand off print-ready and packaged files for you to share with a print vendor directly.

Best practices for creating reports

The more finalized copy and content you provide upfront, the faster and smoother the report process goes. The following guidance about sharing copy, charts and infographics, photography, and feedback facilitates our collaboration and sets the report project up for success!

Copy

Copy that is at least 90% final is required before the design phase begins (after moodboards, if scoped).

Share all final copy, data for charts and graphics, and any other necessary content upfront. Small content edits can be made later in the process, but we require at least 90% of copy to be final before starting design. Providing the final copy upfront is the best way to save time and money on reports! Why?

• Copy changes can cascade through the report and eat up more hours than expected. For example, a small change like one footnote added or removed can affect ALL the footnotes in the report, and take hours to update in the design file. These kinds of cascading changes can put us over budget quickly, and result in timeline delays. Proofread carefully! We run proofreads of reports in each round, these hours add up the more late breaking edits you add in.
• 90% final copy means:
  • All the client’s internal comments are resolved, so there’s no outstanding questions or decisions to be made that would change the copy.Some small edits to body copy, list items, and punctuation are okay, but there should not be any large changes to sentence or paragraph structure. Anything that significantly affects word count will affect the layout of the design and therefore the timeline as well.

How to format your content for large reports

Format your copy doc with a basic hierarchy of information to help us understand how to lay out the content. Set up headers, identify any pull quotes, include all data for charts and graphics, and specify any important page divisions.

If you need help with your content

We have content services at Teal that can be contracted, but are not automatically included in report design requests. Writing/editing/content strategy support can be organized upfront in a project request.

Charts and Graphs

Provide all data and details needed to build/skin/redesign all charts and infographics at the time that copy is delivered. For complex infographics, we can set up a learning session with you if needed and if timeline/budget allows. Learning sessions help us digest the intention and main takeaways of the infographic, so Teal can develop an intentional and clear visual approach that aligns with client goals. This can also be worked into kickoff/brand workshop calls.

Photography

Provide all photos you’d like us to include within the report. If you don’t have assets to use and need our help, we’re happy to help and will let you know what that will add to the timeline and budget.

If you have a photo library to work from

• If you have a photo library for the report and/or specific direction about which photos go where, identify/link the relevant photos throughout the copy document. Providing this content saves time and money in the report process! Note that if your report is going to be printed, images must be at least 300 dpi. We can work with you to determine if your photos are high resolution enough to be used for reports if needed.

If you don’t have many or any photos

• Teal can also source stock photography for reports from our unlimited Adobe Stock account. We can work with you to:
  Identify a photography style specifically for the report
  Choose images that are consistent with your overall brand photography style

Providing Feedback

Each round of design, we will deliver a Google Drive link to a PDF. The main point of contact on your team should comment directly on the PDF of the report versions in Google Drive. Pin comments directly on the part of the page they refer to. This helps us immediately know where to edit the report; it removes guesswork and the need for you to explain exactly what element you’re referring to.

Providing clear, consolidated, and constructive feedback is critical to success in large report projects.