It wants its 100-page reports back.

My wish: Limit yourself to just 30 pages (or less!).

It wants its portrait reports back.

Are people printing your doc… or reading it from their (landscape) computer?

It wants its text-heavy reports back.

We need visuals on every single page.

Ready to revamp your technical reports?

10 Tips for Redesigning Reports

Here are 10 quick wins to improve your next text-heavy document.

You don’t need to apply all 10.

Even one of these techniques will make dense reports more readable for our non-technical and busy audiences.

Design a One-Pager 

The 30-3-1 Approach is the bare minimum for designing reports that actually inform decisions. You can read more about 30-3-1 here.

When you’re creating one-pagers, don’t forget to add at least ½ inch of white space between each graph so the page doesn’t feel smushed.

It’s tempting to try and fit everything into a one-pager. A one-pager is just the highlights; the full report can go into more detail.

Use Brand Colors and Fonts 

Never, ever, ever use your software program’s defaults. 

I’m looking at you, Calibri.  

If you’re using Microsoft Office programs, like Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, then Theme Colors and Theme Fonts can save you hours of time.

Start with the “So What?” 

The Key Findings and Next Steps deserve to be shared earlier (not buried in the last few pages of our docs).  

Use Landscape Orientation 

Will you pay to print your reports and mail them to your recipients? 

If not, they’ll probably read in on their (landscape) computer screen.  

Add a Cover 

We can make beautiful, engaging report covers in 20 minutes or less— inside software we already have.  

Here’s one of my favorite before/after transformations from Sara DeLong:

Chunk with Dividers 

Begin each chapter with a dark, visually-striking divider page to help break up the content into small bites.  

Add 1+ Visual Per Page 

Think of a recent report: how many pages had visuals? 

The Text Wall takes too long to read.  

Add a Variety of Visuals 

Not just charts.

Not just tables. 

Humanize reports with photos, too.  

You can grab my Checklist of 15 Types of Visuals from this podcast with Alli Torban.

Go Beyond the Bar Chart 

My old reports: bars, clustered bars, stacked bars and columns charts.  

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz… 

Let’s escape the bar chart.  

Lower the Reading Level 

I suggest writing two levels below (e.g., a Master’s degree audience would get Grade 9-12 writing).  

Your Turn 

Which tip will you apply to your next technical report? Comment anytime and let me know.

The post 10 Tips for Redesigning Reports appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

One thing I’ve learned is that organization has a little bit different communication style.

Some groups are report-heavy. Think lots of paragraphs, portrait, Calibri size 11 turned into a PDF.  

Other groups are dashboard-heavy. They either have lots of static dashboards (short PDF reports) or lots of interactive dashboards and databases.

While other groups are presentation-heavy, kind of. They use PowerPoint, but they’re making standalone documents, not slides for presentations.

One thing these groups all have in common: Everyone has reports of one kind or another. And I often see three common report hurdles over and over again.

The Data Viz Today Podcast with Alli Torban

I recently spoke with Alli Torban on her podcast, Data Viz Today. Alli is an information design consultant who discovered data visualization while on maternity leave. She started the podcast as a way to grow and learn more about the data viz field.

She and I discussed those three common report hurdles we all run into and I gave solutions of how to overcome them.

Watch Our Conversation Here 

Challenge 1: Soaring Beyond the Dusty Shelf Report

The first common challenge I see is going beyond the report.

Most organizations have a report of some kind, but it’s hard to get into the mindset of a report AND a dashboard, slideshow, handout, etc.

In many workplaces, we definitely still need a report as one of our formats (e.g., grant reports that are required to be submitted at the end of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar project).

But our data can inform more decisions if we can offer a report plus other formats.

There’s often a misperception that it’s going to be time-consuming or costly to design a report and some other formats.

But, there’s a cost-effective and time-efficient solution: 30-3-1 with unlimited visual appendices.

The 30-3-1 approach is this: you take your dusty shelf report and you limit the body of the report to just 30 pages, the most important data. The rest of it doesn’t get deleted, you simply push it to back of the report in a visual appendix (which unlimited in terms of page numbers).

Then when you’re done with the 30-page report, you also make a 3-pager and a 1-pager. Each format will reach a different audience and will help your data reach more people and actually inform decisions.

Not sure how to incorporate a visual appendix? You can learn more about how to start using this technique here: https://depictdatastudio.com/designing-visual-appendices-for-your-next-report-in-under-an-hour/

Challenge 2: Packing a Lot of Dense, Technical Information into a Report – Without Overwhelming Our Readers 

Another common challenge we all run into is needing to pack a lot of dense, technical information into a report—without overwhelming our readers.

I worked with a county to help create their 100+ page public health report card.

There was one page for each variable: traffic accidents, cancer deaths, pregnancy rates, environmental/ozone data, etc. Our challenge was to find a way to chunk all that data into a few categories that would make easier to read and navigate.

Our solution: Color-coding by chapter.

After categorizing the data, each chapter was designated its own different brand color.

The headings and visuals all used that brand color throughout the chapter (heading 1s, heading 2s, call-out boxes, sidebars, graphs, maps, bullet points, etc.).

The end result allowed readers to easily tell when a new topic began.

Your brain recognizes new color; the content must have changed as well.  

Here’s another example of when I worked with a university library to use color-coding to simply their report:  https://depictdatastudio.com/how-to-transform-a-text-heavy-report/ 

This technique can also be applied to slideshows, dashboards and infographics.

I use this technique when I give presentations as well:  https://depictdatastudio.com/visually-structure-your-presentation-around-key-points/

Challenge 3: Incorporating a Variety of Visuals—Not Just Graphs 

The final challenge I see are reports that are ALL narrative, or ALL graphs, or ALL photos.

We all tend to gravitate towards what we’re comfortable with but there are so many great types of visuals you can include.

In the video, you’ll hear Alli and I talk through this list of 15 visuals to include in our reports:

1. Graphs 

2. Photographs 

3. Icons 

4. Lists 

5. Maps 

6. Diagrams 

7. Timelines 

8. Logos 

9. Screenshots 

10. Text overlaid on images 

11. Columns 

12. Shapes 

13. Handwriting 

14. Cartoons 

15. GIFs 

Your Turn 

I’d love to hear from you. What challenge have you dealt with (or are currently dealing with)? Which of these techniques have you use in your work? Comment and let me know.  

Connect with Alli 

Website: www.allitorban.com 

LinkedIn: @allisontorban

Data Viz Today Podcast: https://dataviztoday.com/ 

The post 3 Common Reporting Hurdles—and How to Overcome Them appeared first on Depict Data Studio.