Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

83. Communicate Issues Boldly: Using Bold Graphics to Drive Home the Importance of Messages

How does a small staff communicate a year's worth of work in one report? The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network knows that the substance of their work is often highly technical. As a human rights organization, their advocacy work must be clearly communicated to funders, beneficiaries, and the public at large.

Why It Works

The designers at Soapbox, Inc., created a visual language for the critical initiatives and issues in ways that are accessible and compelling. The issues that the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network tackle are highlighted with original artwork in bright and engaging colors.

For three years running, the annual reports have used a similar format of bold graphics alternating with an in-depth narrative punctuated with large numbers that scream out critical statistics and bring attention to the data that drive the organization as it fights the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Reports like Deadly Disregard include sound bites accompanied by powerful editorial illustrations that make the case for a needle exchange program. Readers of the reports are surprised to find such a wealth of statistical information and analysis in bite-sized installments with compelling graphics that make the abstract case for advocacy more relevant.

Success Metrics

• The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network annual reports have ...