2009 Annual Report

True, Annual Reports are the purview of companies with shareholders and stocks, often stuffed with dusty numbers and percentages. We believe our clients are our shareholders; we believe numbers and data can be colorful and engaging. Clients and the community deserve a look not just at how we did, but how they did. They deserve some good news; moreover, they deserve to know that they’re amongst friends: other business owners who endured the adversity of “o-nine.”

Upon reflection—or more accurately: upon careful research—one discovers there is in fact cause for celebration. While profits were off for most companies and business owners, great work still got done both in our studio and our client’s offices. Awards were won, breakthroughs made, profits returned, new jobs began, old ones completed.

The FÖDA Studio AR09 is an act of optimism and it’s the keeping of promises: solidarity, collaboration, authenticity.

AR09 Design:
The AR09 is the result of a great deal of internal research and data collection—the sort of thing we offer clients, but here we turned the magnifying glass on ourselves. The 2009 production load of the studio was placed in a 12 segment rotation, clock-like, yet representative of the 12 months of the year. Each set of diagrams reflects different data: color trending throughout the year, color by project, environmental status by press run, total research, market sectors, etc.

The report, also being a celebration of our 7th year in business, provides cross-sections of empirical data based on return on investment with FÖDA Studio. When you have several years under your belt with a client (especially those who’ve been rebranded) one can point to how the gross profit of a business changed. This is critical to us: proper design is not overhead, it’s investment in growth. Design—when it comes from a brand consultancy—ceases to be about ‘art projects’ and inspiration. As it says in the report:

IN THE ABSENCE OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION, DESIGN
BECOMES AN EXERCISE RELYING WHOLLY ON INSPIRATION; UNLIKELY TO ELICIT CHANGE,
DOUBTFUL TO PROVE AN ADVANTAGE.
RESEARCH—‘KNOWING’— CREATES ADVANTAGES.

The ROI segment is followed with client profiles—a narrative on who we serve and what they’re about. This information is colored by feedback from the blog-o-sphere, editorial statements from us, and a brief history/explanation of the studio.

The AR09 has little portfolio imagery; it isn’t about us in that way.
The AR09 is us.

Each copy of the Annual Report is numbered and embossed by hand.

Excerpt of our Toward a Manifesto with multi-lingual translations.

Diagram of Collaborators.

Detail of Client Industry diagram.

Color usage by project, percentage and duration.

Color trending over the year.

Client Profile: Mark Odom Studio.

Client Profiles: Webber+Studio and I-35 Makeover Project for the City of Austin in conjunction with Cotera+Reed Architects.

Coffee Consumption by designer.

Limited to 50 prints in this first edition; price on demand. To order one of these perfect bound, 44 page reports, click here:

Client: FÖDA Studio
Creative Director: Jett Butler
Designers: Melissa Martin, Sissy Emmons and Jett Butler
Data Collection and Research: Melissa Martin, Sissy Emmons and Jett Butler. *Client ROI Provided courtesy of Larry McGuire, Ransom Baldasare, Jon Ahrens, Jason Ryan Dorsey, AIA Austin.
Photography: Jett Butler, additional shots by Sissy Emmons and Ryan Vaughn
French Translation: Florent Palluault & Kristi Stillwell
Spanish Translations: Michael French and Viviane Vives
German Translation: Berthold Haas
Chinese Translation: Google
Copy Proofing: Holly Gonzalez
Paper Rep: Jessica Philips