Painting by numbers

Annual reports? I’ve written them, analysed them and read more of them than is probably healthy.

Back in the days, you see, I used to sit down for a few weeks with a pile of annual reports from the top 100 companies in Europe. That’s right. 100 reports. A veritable mound of information.

Having that experience has, to a certain extent, chastened me when it comes to annual report production. I know what I like and, well, while the client is always right, if they were to ask for lots of copy and stock library images, I’d politely tell them not to waste their money.

Family Mosaic, though, don’t do reports like that. Andrew and I had worked with them beforehand on their last corporate brochure and enjoyed the experience. When they asked about a different approach for a financial accounts document, we were intrigued.

The message was about financial strength. Figures, obviously, would be essential in making this believable. But we also wanted them to be seen as part of the London cityscape, as quintessentially London as buses, cabs and the London eye.

So we asked Chris Corr to illustrate some relevant scenes: each features a building where Family Mosaic tenants live. Each features a mosaic of London life. Each is vibrant, enticing and, well, rather pleasant to look at.

A bit like the report itself. Which is a nice change.