Reports may not be an exciting communication format. But they are important.
To make smart decisions about product development, marketing and growth strategies, and budgeting – really, any part of your business – you cannot simply rely on your gut feeling. That is where a lot of small businesses fail.
So we have got all to put together reports. But do not worry; your reports need not be boring. By making some actual simple design choices, you can create reports that actually engage your readers.
Dense wall of texts, no charts or visuals in sight, as boring to read as they are to create. With a well laid out, beautiful report template design, you can make a great impression on stakeholders and help to make the information easier to understand!
Before you create your first visualization, concentrate on requirements.
Creating a report starts before you build your first visual. A good report design needs planning. Know the data you have to work with and write down the requirements for the report.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What’s your business’s need?
How’re the readers going to use the data?
Who’s going to use the data?
The answer to those questions will drive your design. You might feel to add visuals that show dramatic insights, but if those insights don’t match the business need, then the report won’t be useful. Your users might get distracted with those visuals.
With the help of report template design, you can track, monitor, uncover, measure, predict, test, manage, and more. If your business requires a sales report that measures performance, design the one that looks at current sales, compares to competitors, compares to previous sales, and includes KPIs that trigger alerts.
Know your customers for the report. Go for a template design that uses familiar terminology and provides data at a level of detail. We are sure one size doesn’t always fit all for every customer. Design separate pages that are based on expertise. Make sure to label each page clearly so that customers can self-identify.
Once you’re done with your business need, the customers, and the metrics you would like to include, the next step is to pick the right visuals to tell the story. Figure out the most effective way to present those visuals. These are some of the basic principles of report design.
Principles of Report Design –
A report page has limited space, and one of the toughest things is to fit all the elements you want in that space and still holding the information that one can understand easily.
Let us take a look at layout, clarity, and aesthetics.
The layout of the report: The report canvas has a finite amount of space. If all your elements cannot get fit on a single report page, break up the report into many pages. You can tailor a report page to specific audiences only, including HR, IT, and Sales.
Alignment, order, and proximity: The layout of your report elements impact reader comprehension and guide them through the report page. How you place and position elements tell a story. Be intentional with the sizing of your report elements and do not let space availability dictate the size of visualization. Align the elements on the report page, either symmetrically or intentionally asymmetrically.
Aesthetics: There are a few more best practices for report design worth discussing. They deal with the overall appearance of the report. Remember that the function of your report is to meet business needs and not to look pretty. But if your page looks confusing, unprofessional, or disorganized, readers may never discover the powerful story it tells.
Concentrate on certain things, like:
Create a common theme and apply it to all pages of the report.
Use standalone reports and other graphics to support.
If you want to incorporate the most cost-effective way of report writing feature into your application, visit SubSystems. We provide the best report template design for users to design report layouts. The users will find the component very intuitive and user-friendly. ReportEase provides a comprehensive set of features that allows even a novice user to become quickly productive.
Visit us to know more!
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