Comments on: A Two-Hour Turnaround: How to Transform a Text-Heavy Report into a Visual-Lite Report https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/ Tue, 08 Feb 2022 20:29:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: SEA Affiliate Week: “Jazzing Up” Evaluation Reports by Rhonda Williams – AEA365 https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/#comment-864 Tue, 08 Jan 2019 08:47:11 +0000 http://annkemery.com/?p=9924#comment-864 […] was inspired by Ann K. Emery’s, A Two-Hour Turnaround: How to Transform a Text-Heavy Report into a Visual-Lite Report.  Evaluation reports are a synthesis of technical information, which means care and attention […]

]]> By: Allison M https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/#comment-852 Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:50:18 +0000 http://annkemery.com/?p=9924#comment-852 This is great. Love the level of detail! Makes it super easy to follow along and saves me time googling. Much obliged.

]]> By: Ann K. Emery https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/#comment-851 Fri, 24 Aug 2018 14:25:27 +0000 http://annkemery.com/?p=9924#comment-851 In reply to Danielle S.

Hi Danielle,
Here are some ideas for you:
1) Make sure your graphs are still legible in grayscale. You can print some drafts (one version in color, one version in grayscale). Or, to save ink, just take a screenshot of your draft and use any ol’ photo editing software program (even PowerPoint) to preview your draft in grayscale. There are two primary strategies that will ensure your graphs are still legible in grayscale: a) Directly label the data instead of using separate legends, and b) Outline touching segments of graphs (stacked bars, maps, donut slices, etc.) in which to ensure that the grays don’t blend together.
2) Add visuals. This report was full of bullet points and definitely could’ve benefited from tables, graphs, maps, photographs, icons, logos, diagrams, and other imagery. Even in grayscale, it’ll look better than the bullet points alone.
3) Write short, skimmable reports with larger font so that clients don’t have any need to print a dense report.
4) Add printing costs to the project budget and hand-deliver or mail the glossy masterpieces. All the consulting firms I’ve worked for over the years have done this, mine included.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Ann

]]> By: Danielle S https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/#comment-850 Fri, 24 Aug 2018 02:47:08 +0000 http://annkemery.com/?p=9924#comment-850 Hi Ann,
I really like the revised report. It’s definitely an improvement with all the added colour. Unfortunately, sometimes my stakeholders will print my reports, and to save on colour ink they’ll print it in greyscale. This makes it really hard to make an impactful report without using colours. Do you have any tips?
Thanks!

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