Effectively Communicating ESG To Stakeholders

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As time goes by more and more information seems to become relevant to your ESG or Sustainability report. However, if your material isn’t visually strategic, your readers may get overwhelmed or lost. These visual design best practices can improve your report’s traction with audiences and ensure they are influenced by the right information.

Once you have Identified the right approach and content for your company’s ESG Report, the next step involves deciding on the best way you present the information. Don’t risk losing your readers by confusing them or by making it hard for them to find what they need—make sure your report is optimised for efficient, effective communication.

(Note: It should be noted that while clients may create web-based reports, interactive PDF reports are the dominant format.)

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1. Clear Navigation

Global interactive navigation and cross links are a basic requirement for an interactive PDF. Link your table of contents, references, details and data throughout your report as well as externally to your website or other sources for more information. A robust global navigation running throughout the report allows readers direct access to their interests, no matter where they are.

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2. Ruthless Editing

Being a ruthless editor may not seem like a visual design tip, but shorter content can communicate more effectively (let’s face it—no one wants to read pages of running text).

Shorter content can reinforce the hierarchy of information, helping to emphasize key items and keeping important information from being lost. It can more easily be married to visuals - the infographics that illustrate complex information and photos that bring the content to life.

Streamlining tips:

• Consider the use of a suite of audience-focused reports, so for example, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion can contain all the detail it deserves without being lost in a sea of information.
• Move evergreen information to your website and/or store it in a CMS.
• Use statistics, facts, callouts, and infographics to break up text and make the content skimmable.

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3. Visual Room to Breathe

With concern over page count (especially as the amount of reported information increases), it is tempting to pack pages “wall to wall.” This diminishes the accessibility of the information and makes for a “one note” presentation. If less is not possible, allow room for the content to breathe. Even if some pages are full, smart use of open space can balance that density, add drama and help to elevate the importance of key information. For example, create visually spacious opener pages for chapters of the report. These help the eye and mind to understand what the key topics are and, therefore, aid in absorbing denser information that might follow.

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4. Good Image Quality

The quality of the images you use absolutely reflects on your brand. Decide carefully if the image is on-brand and if you really feel it neccessary. It's better to not use images at all and create a well formated report without any photography than to use ill-fitting imagery. Illustrations, icons, typography, color, infographics, and charts can all add the visual relief of dense documents.

It's important to ensure that all the creative elements of your report are applied with consistency and accuracy. It's also important to avoid overly stock image choices featuring cliques like a growing plant or piggy bank. Take pains to diversify your images of people and avoid anything that is in poor taste socially.

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5. Aggregated Data, Goals and Progress

Make it easier for those interested in the data and details to find what they are looking for—create a scorecard or progress against goals feature. Keep the goals and commitments together, so they can be scanned in one place. If you have a lot to disclose, a web-based data hub or a data appendix is a great idea.

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In closing

A Sustainability or ESG report is an opportunity to tell many different stakeholders what your values, goals and objectives are. Don’t run the risk of diminishing your messages with a report design that doesn’t effectively communicate this important story. Creating a high-quality ESG report or presentation material builds trust with employees, shareholders and all stakeholders. Outsourcing to a trusted partner can help you prepare engaging materials that get traction. If you're looking to get formatting and design assistance for a report like this please don't hesitate to connect with the team at PitchPoint.

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