A screenshot from L.A. County’s now worldwide-recognized annual report site.
Let’s face it–most annual reports are boring. But this time, Los Angeles County’s is far from it. Full of statistics, numbers and facts, every major entity files one in order to inform their consumers, investors or citizens of the activity and state of whatever it is they are offering. Los Angeles County’s presents information to its 10 million residents, which are among the most diverse and in the nation.
For its 2011 report, the County of Los Angeles decided to go with an aesthetically digital bang. They decided to switch out ink and paper for pixels and megabytes and for the first time–instead of printing thousands of copies of paper reports–created a website entirely dedicated to their annual report. The site is instantly eye-catching, using smart design and the currently popular typeface info-video to flash and display quick facts about our incredibly vast and diverse county.
And their efforts did not go unrecognized.
Placing first amongst all governmental agencies worldwide for “Best Annual Report”–ousting city, state, and national entries ranging from Britain to Mexico–the County’s annual report was recognized by the League of American Communications Professionals’s (LACP) in their annual report awards, the world’s largest annual report competition. Even more impressively, amongst 5,500 entrants, the County’s report placed 66th in the world–only being bested by international NGOs and Fortune 500 companies such as Audi, which placed first.
Other awards include: Top 50 American Annual Reports of 2011, Silver Award for “Most Creative Annual Report in the Americas Region” and Top 50 Annual Reports in the Americas Region (ranking at #20 overall).
The group’s full summary of their grading of L.A. County’s report can be viewed here.