Design Challenge and Design Ideas

We have developed a great working relationship with Concern Worldwide over the past two decades – a relationship based on collaboration, open-mindedness and trust. For over twenty consecutive years, we have been privileged to design Concern’s Annual Report – and every year, we strive to exceed their expectations by creating a powerful, beautiful and relevant report without being ostentatious.
The challenge with the 2021 Annual Report was to find an arresting way to present another twelve months of emergencies – as Concern responded to the deepening effects of conflict and the climate crisis, while a devastating pandemic and unprecedented levels of hunger pushed Concern to continuously strive to support more people and communities with the assistance that they require.

How the brief was fulfilled

Every time we design an Annual Report for Concern, our aim is to ensure that it delivers more than a simple outline of the organisation’s activities during the previous twelve months. Instead, it must reflect the organisation’s ethos and show the range of lifesaving and transformative work that Concern does and the difference it can make. From a design perspective, we strived to reflect Concern Worldwide’s programme with an editorial approach to the design to allow Concern’s stunning photography to lead the story-telling, with detailed captions revealing people’s background stories and revealing their authentic voice.
Once again, COVID 19 had an enormous impact on Concern’s year, which the report needed to account for. At the same time, we needed to highlight Concern’s continued work on their overseas programmes, emergency responses, education work within Ireland on the SDG goals, and their ongoing campaigns – so the design had to get this balance right. This was achieved by complementing the photography with a broad range of colours from the brand palette to give the report a engaging feel, but also to represent the diversity of Concern’s work.
The diverse colour palette also helped create a sense of positivity around Concern’s work globally, which continues to have a profoundly positive impact. Data is presented in bite-size chunks, making it easy to consider and understand their work and the difference they can and do make.
Big and bold headings punctuate the document, indicating the organisation’s determined and direct approach – creating a visually arresting snapshot of their strategy, solutions and outcomes.