The 1996 Mead Annual Report Show, presented by Raleigh Paper, celebrates the fortieth anniversary of this prestigious show, with 24 annual reports touring Australia in March.

At the show's opening in Brisbane on March 3, Sam Ellickson, Manager, International Sales of Gilbert Paper, invited Australian designers to participate in the Mead Show competition.

A barometer of current trends in annual report design, this year's show continues the strong preference for uncoated stocks. Other trends include a penchant for non-standard sizes, square format being very popular. Covers were understated with little ink coverage, mostly typographic treatments with dye-stamping or embossing, and a few photographic covers full bleed. Inside, reports had simple, elegant type treatments, though a few had the bold, brash in-your-face sans serif style the Yanks do so well. Most reports were two or three spot colour, with almost exclusively B/W photography used full bleed for dramatic effect. The handful of reports that featured four colour pics seemed garish in comparison.

One report, by Jennifer Sterling Design, was entirely typographic, printed one colour on cream uncoated stock with the unexpected luxury of French folds.

My pick for the best report of the show? The 1995 Kenneth Cole Report. Designed inhouse this elegant, vertical format report featured strong B/W product shots printed on vellum/tissue reminiscent of shoe box tissue. The most interesting design aspect of this simple, one colour report? The use of one font, one weight, one size.

Martine Zajacek