Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute was ready to share their annual achievements—but Covid put a wrench in their usual way of doing things. Supporters weren’t at their physical mailing addresses, and the Institute didn’t want their annual reports getting outdated in overflowing mailboxes. But what could they do? Go digital—in the most effective way possible.
Our plan? Go all-in and deliver an annual report that’s engaging and accessible. While a PDF has some “interactive” capabilities, they are limited. Our objective was to create an experience — to let supporters dive into the material in a way that connected with them personally. InDesign offered more depth in this area; it helped us bring a traditional printed report to life through embedded videos, photo galleries and animation. While maximizing the interactive possibilities, we would also need to keep versatility in mind. Contrary to what some may think, print is not dead; we would still need to produce a limited run of hard copies.
Since much of the McGrath Institute’s work was event-driven, it was possible to share more images (as interactive galleries) in the report without it feeling cramped or overwhelming. What would be too many pages in print ended up being just-right online—a way for readers to go deeper into areas they cared about.
The reports showcased more testimonials and pictures, and highlighted relevant content and statistics. With an interactive table of contents, the reader could navigate the entire report with just a few simple clicks. While the online format served as an expanded version of sorts, it also made for an easy pivot so that we could produce a small batch of printed copies without reinventing the wheel. Talk about versatility!
What began as a temporary response to Covid has turned into the blueprint for annual reports moving forward. This new hybrid approach lets us reach a larger audience online and makes it easy to pivot to print. It's the best of both worlds!
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