Reporting
An annual report drawn as a comic
At the Red Dot Museum I found a set of financial statements presented as manga, and I have not stopped thinking about it.
Annual reports do not have to be boring. I know that sentence sounds like wishful thinking from someone who has read a great many of them.
On a visit to the Red Dot Museum I came across an award-winning one. Nissin Foods, the Japanese instant noodle company, had presented its financials and its annual report in manga comic styling.
Why that is not a gimmick
Manga has been part of Japanese culture since the late nineteenth century and is read by people of every age. The term covers both comics and cartooning, and the range runs from action and adventure through drama, history, romance, science fiction, sport and suspense. It is not a children's format. It is simply a widely understood visual language.
Using it for an annual report turns a document most people skim into one they actually read.
Combining creativity, storytelling and artwork with financial information changes what the document can do. The information is the same. The proportion of people who take it in is not.
I am not suggesting every company draw its results. Most should not. But it is worth noticing that the convention we have settled on for financial reporting was a choice, and that somebody occasionally makes a different one and gets away with it.
If you have come across other annual reports that do something unexpected, through design, interactivity or format, I would like to see them.