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GENERAL MOTORS

Information With Style

Auto industry observers want to know how General Motors is addressing the unprecedented challenges that the company has been facing. BCN Communications was tasked with answering that question in GM's 2005 annual report. The resulting document takes an information-with-style route. Labor and supplier agreements are reducing costs and excess capacity, while award-winning innovation and product developments seem verged to re-invigorate GM's global brands. At a time when fuel efficiency is a consumer focus, GM offers more products than any other automaker that achieve at least 30 miles per gallon. In the annual, such facts and more are wrapped in high production values and photography that leverages the stylishness of GM automobiles. The message: General Motors is looking ahead with confidence in its products, its people, its productivity and its plan. Besides a print edition, BCN also produced an interactive version of the annual report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Panoramic Images Show Connections

PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2005 Global Annual Review, Perspectives on Value aims to illustrate how PwC brings value to its clients. Odgis + Company, the designers of the report, wanted to bring to life the established PwC theme of "Connected Thinking," the view of PwC as a globally connected company that is locally positioned to deliver valuable insights to its clients. A unique visual approach was developed to convey a feeling of motion, time and perspective, by assembling sequential images in panoramic constructions. Odgis designers capture a sense of being in the moment by illustrating how PwC's people are involved, engaged and actively part of our complex, changing world. Primary Photographer Marshall Harrington traveled to Brazil and Hong Kong along with Creative Director Janet Odgis to shoot images that would become prototypes for the annual. The images were shot with a panoramic camera held vertically to create a series of individual photographs taken in a time-lapse fashion. When constructed, the sequential images create an animated landscape that the eye sees as a single composition. From the prototypes, Designer Banu Berker worked with thousands of images to create globally diverse sequences that bring the book to life. These colorful landscapes are combined with a black-and-white reportage portrait, allowing the viewer to observe PwC people in action.

Gap Inc.

Let The River Run

In 2005, for the third year in a row, O&J Design was selected to develop a concept and design for Gap Inc.'s annual report. O&J was also instrumental in the development of Gap's first two social responsibility reports, and continues to guide them in this complex area of reporting. The 2005 annual presented a multifaceted challenge. O&J aimed to develop a visual concept that communicated the company's then-current business situation in an honest but upbeat manner, to present the year's financial performance as a natural cycle in a longer-term plan for company growth, to revitalize public perception of the company's creative approach to its brands and to deliver it all in a clear and compelling manner. The design firm's solution is to explain Gap's 2005 business cycle in terms of the ebbs and flow of a river — a natural, healthy process. O&J Design executed that visual metaphor across all report spreads. The layout communicates the idea of natural movement and change. At the same time, it represents a fresh break from Gap's usual aesthetic of clean lines, while respecting the company's traditional comfort zone — white space, clarity in type and iconic brand images.

Southwest Gas Company

Warm Memories

2005 set a landmark for Southwest Gas Corporation, as they celebrated their 75th anniversary. Southwest wanted to remind its customers, shareholders and potential investors of the lasting memories natural gas has been a part of for so many years and the company tapped Stoyan Design for the job. The Stoyan team, including Art Director David Wooters and Art Director/Designer Justin Keller, developed a theme and a design that reflects positive past experiences with the client and its product. The report centers around a rhyming poem written by Keller and copywriter Laura Hobbs. Experiences such as summer barbecues, family holidays and backyard parties are candidly described with creative writing. Classic American wallpapers integrated with warm photography, colors and paper stock capture a feeling of nostalgia, taking readers through a series of lasting memories. Summing it all up, the book is entitled "75 Years of Warming the Soul."

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Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Human Side of Healthcare

The not-for-profit healthcare provider, Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), is dependent on donor contributions from the communities it serves. So, its annual report must not only communicate the foundation's financial performance and operational highlights but also serve as a major donor acquisition mailing. PAMF tapped Voicebox Creative to communicate the importance of quality and how it is embodied in the organization so that it meets patients' ever-evolving needs for good clinical care and a positive health care experience. On the cover the word "Quality" is embossed over a brightly lit image of a healthcare provider to illustrate that quality is part of the fabric at PAMF. The content pages offer real-life scenarios that exemplify the breadth and depth of PAMF's commitment to quality. Copy by Susan Sharpe and photography by Mark Tuschman communicate how the foundation meets the Institute of Medicine's six goals that define healthcare quality: efficiency, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, safety, equitability and timeliness. The stories focus both visually and verbally on people and their experiences. The end result, says Creative Director and Designer Jacques Rossouw, honors the hard work and success of physicians, researchers, staff members and volunteers while also communicating the very human side of the patient experience. "People give to people, not to machines and buildings," adds Rossouw.

Advanced Medical Optics

Life Cycle

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) is a global vision care leader. The company has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, so it was important to for its 2005 annual, Vision. For Life., to strategically convey that recent acquisitions and product offerings have significantly increased the company's demographic and market reach. KBDA, the firm tapped for the assignment, communicated this with two different graphic devices. First, they created a two-page company-at-a-glance graphic to illustrate the "vision care life cycle." The graphic shows how AMO's product mix can solve eye care problems from "cradle to grave." In addition, a suite of four photos based on the theme "Discover What You've Been Missing" were interspersed in the letter to shareholders. Each person photographed represents one of the company's core demographics. Together, they tell the story of the vision challenges faced in every age range and how AMO's products help patients improve their day-to-day quality of life: Teens can play sports without having to worry about glasses. Those in mid-life can read that ever-elusive small type without worrying about contacts or glasses. And seniors suffering from cataracts can see clearly, with bright, clear colors available to them once again.