Looking for InDesign templates for an annual report

[gentlebreezes]

Any suggestions for easy-to-follow but sophisticated and classy InDesign templates especially for annual reports for a new InDesign user?

[Virgo Nightingale]

I don't know that you'll find too many templates for something like an annual report. Closest I've seen would be for a catalog. Plus most templates are for things that have an unusual size, a fold or two or a die cut. Some include generic imagery geared toward a specific industry (like brochures with house photos for a real estate company).

Your best bet might be to just make sure you set up the document properly (this includes talking to your printer about how they like things set up), use the master pages to place things like headers/footers/page numbers etc, and setting up style sheets so your text will look consistent throughout.

[DesignVHL]

I never use design templates...I usually take on each project custom....I am not sure what is so hard..i've never done an annual report...but in college we had to do one for our projects....I went to the library, read and looked at many report samples...I don't see what would be so difficult...u get the info the client wants put in there, take their branding and use design that relates to that....sometimes they may have a concept for the year, and thats good to incorporate into it too. I've seen reports of all shapes and sizes...I don't believe there are any set standards here. Depending on the company though, you really can have some fun w/ them! I suggest instead of templates, you take a visit to the public library. Many reports end up there, because they are often public documents (for public company's)...Also, you can ask the company for previous years reports as well to see what's already been done.

Good luck!

[budafist]

You should really look at your content and design from that. Annual reports can be very different depending on the company. You might have no pictures, or you might have loads of pictures and graphs.

Seriously, it would be faster if you cut and pasted your content and then designed from there.

[gentlebreezes]

Actually, I work for the company and have written and edited all the company's annual reports. In the past, the design and production was farmed out. This year, I am considering bringing the design/production in-house. I will again be writing/editing the copy so it can be written to fit the design. Since I'm new at InDesign, I was looking for a template to make the job more manageable.

[budafist]

If you are writing the copy, then make sure you design so that the number of pages is a multiple of 4 if you are saddle stitching this. Eg, a book can be 16 pages but it can't be 18.

Why don't you use the previous year's design file as the template?

Templates are ideal for things like T-shirts, car wraps, where you are essentially designing to a specific shape with a specific amount of data. Annual reports really rely on client's product and design/branding aesthetic. Example, if there was a template for Coca-Cola's annual report available, you would hardly use it for a Shoe Store franchise annual report.

[budafist]

I just fell upon this page (http://www.slate.com/id/2189376/) over at slate.com that has several links to download pdfs of large corporations' annual reports. Just in case anyone needed some inspiration.

PDFs include:
McDonalds (http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/invest/pub/2007_annual_report.RowPar.0002.ContentPar.0001.Col umnPar.0004.DownloadFiles.0001.File.tmp/Downloadable_AR_final_4_8_08.pdf)
Merrill Lynch (http://www.ml.com/annualmeetingmaterials/2007/ar/pdfs/annual_report_2007_complete.pdf)