Alabama Power 1999 Annual Reports
A coordinated set of reports for Alabama Power, the Alabama Power Foundation, and the Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund, designed to read as one family while each stood on its own.
Client: Alabama Power Company
Services: Annual report design, theme and cover concept
Year: 1999
Designed at: Atticus Communications
The Challenge
In 1999, Alabama Power was having trouble getting its annual report projects off the ground and asked us to design them. The company was producing three separate reports, and the creative direction hadn’t come together.
We knew the company well. My partner had just left a full-time position at Alabama Power, and I had freelanced for the company for several years before we started Atticus Communications.
The three reports served different organizations. The company’s annual report carried full financials. The Foundation’s report had a short financial section. The Trust Fund’s report had none.
The Approach
My recommendation was to stop treating them as three separate projects and design them together, so each report could stand alone or work as part of a set. We gave all three a shared theme, “We Are…,” and a single graphic style so they read as a family. Then we gave each report its own size and color, so each one also stood on its own.
Each cover opens with three words chosen for that organization:
- Alabama Power: Affordable, Reliable, Service
- Alabama Power Foundation: Support, Inspire, Educate
- Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund: Helping, Assisting, Serving
The words are set large and stacked, each with its own treatment: one solid, one softened, one in outline. A black band at the bottom completes the phrase: “we are Alabama Power Company,” “we are the Alabama Power Foundation Inc.” An oval image at the top of each cover reflects the organization: the company logo over a map, children for the Foundation, and a group portrait for the Trust Fund.
Color and size followed the content. The company report used Alabama Power red and was the largest, with the financials in the back. The Foundation report used green, a complement to the red, in a letter-size format. The Trust Fund report used bright yellow in an 8-inch square format and had the fewest pages.
The Result
The three pieces were published together as the company’s 1999 Report to the Community. Side by side, they read as one company. On its own, each one fits the organization it represents.
Planning an annual report? Learn more about my Annual Report Design process.