I was approached by the hua foundation to assist in creating their latest research report. While the report was complete as a text document, they wanted a designer to arrange the report in a more presentable and visually pleasing manner. I was asked to keep all materials consistent with their strong visual identity and high aesthetic standard – clear and uncluttered, but with an important element of beauty.

To view the finished report please visit http://huafoundation.org/socialcohesion

Deliverables: Digital and print-ready booklet, infographics, mockup image

Tools: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Google Suite

Planning

I visited the hua foundation to discuss their expectations of the report. They provided me with examples of prior materials published by the organization, in order to properly capture their style. They also identified certain features they would like to include, such as pop-out definitions, as well as areas which they felt were text or data heavy. They challenged me to find new ways to lay out these sections, or to create visual representations of the concepts they were trying to communicate.

I created an annotated copy of the report highlighting their elements of note, as well as my own. I also began to sketch some preliminary ideas for page layouts and infographics.

 

 

Process

Document Layout

After experimenting with different options, I created a base grid of twelve columns in Adobe InDesign.

 

From this grid, I create four page layout structures to be used throughout the report.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I imported the text from the word document into my InDesign file, and chose which layout to use on each page based on which layout I thought allowed the text to break the most naturally.

 

Infographics

I noticed that the hua foundation had devised several categories during their research. To help these be better understood, I used Adobe Illustrator to create icons for their categorizations.

 

 

I also used Adobe Illustrator and Excel for some of their data visualization, creating the following infographics.

 

 

Final Deliverables

Using InDesign, I generated an additional version of the report including the necessary printer’s marks for physical production of the booklet.

 

I also used Adobe Photoshop to give the first report cover (exported from InDesign as a png file) a 3-dimensional look, mocking up a printed version of the report for publicity use.

To view the full report, it is available for download here.