Annual Report Timelines
Whether an organisation is young or old, a timeline is a visually engaging way of illustrating milestones in its journey. They illustrate to stakeholders how an organisation has grown, diversified and delivered key moments in their journey.
Using three diverse examples. let’s discuss the advantages of a timeline for an annual report and stakeholder communication.
British Council 75th Anniversary
British Council has a very long history starting in 1934. From humble beginnings, British Council has become a global influencer, showcasing the UK, and providing language learning, education support and soft skills.
This six-page ‘throwout’ (see below) added an interactive, engaging aspect to the printed report. It was then repurposed for an interactive online PDF and PowerPoint presentation.
This timeline was designed for their 2008–2009 annual report, for their 75th anniversary. The kaleidoscope graphic is something we designed to illustrate 75 years’ worth of activities across 110 countries, encompassing the arts, education and global impact. There was a range of kaleidoscopes each illustrating an aspect of the British Council’s work in every region.
Zopa Bank
Zopa Bank is a relatively young bank, entering the market in 2005. The brand team had a set of corporate, custom icons in their brand suite and where necessary, we designed new ones to illustrate important milestones in the bank’s growth.
There is a lot of text accompanying each entry and that can limit the design. The less text the better, you can always reference a longer narrative later in the document, especially with the example below, the timeline is over a double-page spread.
The example above for Zopa Bank draws out the main text headline. A more engaging visual ‘hook’ is to use a top-level figure, eg. £XXbn in revenue and the date playing a more minor role. This is not always possible, as you can see from the example below.
David MacBrayne
David McBrayne’s timeline is all about the organisation’s long history (160 years) and is based on events highlighting the company’s change and growth to become the only highland and ferry company owned by the Scottish government.
The timeline delves deep into the company’s origins, ownership change, brand development and its unique position. What it doesn’t do is tell the human story, but we did that in another way.
When thinking about the content of your timeline, remember to focus on the audience and put the material in context. It may not be that very exciting that a new CEO was brought on board in 1973, but it may be a bit more engaging when you communicate to the readership this was in the middle of the three-day week.
It sometimes takes an external eye to review the content and draw out the meaningful material. We can help you with that.