05/2009
We at wollzelle are honoured to entertain a long-term creative relationship with the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege, a non profit organisation that provides home care services in and around Vienna, our hometown. In fact, they have been client of ours since I got on board with them as part of his civil service.
Not only are they a very worthy cause to support, they entrust us with a wide variety of tasks, ranging from interactive design to the production of promotional items. As a creative agency, we like to “mix things up” and the WHS gives us plenty of opportunities to do just that, both in terms of form and function.
Case in point, our latest project: turning a potentially dry document (their 2008 annual report) into an engaging whole that would reflect the warmth and energy that radiate from the institution and empower its staff.
Having complete control over the project allowed us to take many liberties not usually seen with such documents: out with the traditional white gloss stock and in with a natural, lightly processed paper to emphasise the group’s down-to-earth approach.
Working with Ursula Röck, a highly talented, unconventional photographer and friend, we created a collection of unexpected still lives taken at their clients homes, reflecting the everyday reality of those the WHS supports, and emphasising how small touches converge to dramatically improve their overall quality of life. Each shot is both a work of art in itself, and a powerful testimonial of life in Vienna today.
Of course, a report isn’t all fun and games. By bringing design into the visual representation of data, turning pie charts and graph bars into silhouettes and cartoons, we were able to directly link the data with what it represented, thereby facilitating its understanding. Strong type structures the pages and links together the various sections of the report.
High-end printing techniques, such as UV varnishing, completed the effort, and allowed the text to become a de facto design element, working with instead of against the report’s layout.
You can see the results in our Flickr Photostream and a little Video from the production.
Design is all about making quality content approachable, and we can think of no better content to work with. The WHS’ 2008 annual report is part official document part catalogue, showing both the human and financial aspects of this respected institution, in a single go.