Designing Impactful Sustainability Reports: Collaborating with Fortune 500 Companies at BrownFlynn
In the mid–2010's I worked for a company called BrownFlynn, a small corporate sustainability and governance consulting firm based in downtown Cleveland. The company advised Fortune 500 and privately held businesses on corporate sustainability advisory services including setting strategy, helping them navigate reporting frameworks and ratings.
I was one of two designers there at the time. We both worked together to design and build sustainability reports for these companies that were more than just an average corporate report but more stylized with an almost editorial/magazine type of look and feel to them. I had the opportunity to work with such companies as Davey, Grief, Expeditors, Southwire, Panalpina, and Visa
The process of creating one of these reports was very involved and a lot of work went into each one not only by the designers but by the analysts who worked with each company to gather all the necessary information for each report.
The first step was always research followed by a phone call with the client to establish content, infographics, photography, brand standards, and anything else we needed to create the best report possible. From there we would begin to create concepts and would present our three best to the client. Once we got confirmation on a direction we would get to work. These reports were not only distributed to employees but to shareholders as well so it was paramount each report looked its absolute best and that all of the information contained within was double and triple-checked for accuracy. My favorite report that I created was for a company called IDT. IDT is a very interesting company that produces synthetic DNA for the life sciences industry in the areas of academic and commercial research, agriculture, medical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical development. IDT manufactures products used by scientists researching many forms of cancer and most inherited and infectious diseases. You can read more about them here.
As the lead designer on this project, I submitted a design inspired by DNA strands, science, and research. I developed some successful infographics, charts and tables, and photography treatments that made this report stand out from dozens of others we created during my time there. Custom infographics were a huge part of any project we worked on and would require hours and hours to formulate ideas to break down complex information for the average person to understand. IDT was one of the more challenging clients when it came to accomplishing this as you can see in the image below.
Mastering Complex Content: Creating a Praised Sustainability Report for IDT at BrownFlynn
A lot of back and forth between designers, analysts, and clients occurred in all of these reports and it was my first real introduction to large amounts of copy and data visualization. A lot of the content was extremely complex and above a lot of people's heads (myself included) but was a great learning experience to take complicated content and break it down into bite-size chunks that anyone could understand.
This report was extremely well received and praised not only by everyone on the team but the owners of BrownFlynn and most importantly the client. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this project and to receive the kind of adulation I did when it was finished made the whole process worthwhile and something I am very proud of. Below are some of my favorite spreads from the report.
