Print reports can have an undeniable gravitas when they land on a desk. But are they read? And whom should we ship an expensive print piece to? When it comes to disseminating important and timely information produced by our clients in the scientific community, print reports have limitations. Sandbox challenged ourselves and our clients to re-envision how such reports are produced and the form they should take. What emerged is a vehicle that can reach more people, is produced more efficiently, and ensures a final product with impact.
The Annual Report we produced for ALCF is an online report that can be accessed through search engines and a means of measuring what content is specifically being accessed and when. It gives a strong visual impression with added storytelling capabilities—available through high quality videos that run alongside the text and imagery.
Critical to this new approach to reports was bringing efficiency to the workflow. Often reports have numerous contributors and so version control is critical. By using Github as a back-end tool, content can be brought to a final state by non-technical staff, working to improve the report as a whole. Sandbox continues to contribute high quality branded graphics, charts, plots, and introduce special page components where necessary.
