Above are some images from the University of Virginia’s Annual Report from 2012 (scroll to the end of this post to view it inline). Like the reports from other years ((Eds. Note: I could have easily have featured the 2013 or 2014 reports. They are really quite nice too, and probably have won as many awards. The 2012 edition is simply the one I came across first.)), the 2012 report is lush with vivid imagery, colours and quotes. The resulting book feels less like ‘the year in numbers’ and more like a coveted coffee table monograph from the likes of Taschen.

At least since 2009, design credit for these reports goes to Design Army, a creative agency out of Washington, DC. The lead designer for the 2012 report, which has won a handful of awards, is Jaime Lopez ((also photo credit for image 1 & 2)). As Ms. Lopez puts it, “The UVA Library annual report has become a sought after creative project, not only because of the unlimited access to the library’s incredible imagery archives, but because of the creative freedom given by the client.”

Allison Linney says of the UVA reports, “I get a lot of annual reports and many are lovely publications, but I look forward to this gift like no other. It’s more artifact than report and is meant to be held.”

Institution: University of Virginia Library
Creators: Design Army