TDC tells tale behind numbers, while PolyU highlights achievers

Figures dominate the Trade Development Council report, winner of the silver award in the non- profit category.

The cover alone indicates what the report is all about. Various numbers are designed against a white backdrop.

'Numbers featured prominently in our initial brainstorming,' said graphic design manager Irwin Wong, 'because we were entering a new millennium and there were developments within the TDC that could be neatly expressed in figures.'

And what do those cover figures represent?

Thirty-three is the number of years the TDC has existed. The 600,000 stands for the number of contacts underpinning trade por tal tdctrade.com. The numbers 1830668 connect with the council's telephone customer service. The 382 reveals the number of promotional events organised in 1999/2000.

And the large orange-coloured 79 per cent figure reflects the percentage of expenditure financed from income generated by the TDC's own activities.

'The challenge is to convey an accurate picture of what we have achieved and where we are heading in an attractive way for people outside the organisation,' Mr Wong said.

'The design should be easily understood, and should convey an organisation's mission and goals effectively.'

The numbers theme on the cover is carried through the artistically shot photographs inside.

In the case of bronze winner Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, however, numbers were reduced to small print as the re port was all about people. The cover greets readers with a collage of smiling faces, while the inside is filled with photographs of staff and scholars.

But PolyU staff and students are not just in the report - they are also behind it.

'There's one thing I'm proud of,' said head of corporate communications, David Poon. 'The whole thing was done in-house, from the writing, editing and design to the photographs.'

Entire pages are dedicated to portrait shots of successful and famous PolyU graduates.

The portraits and other artistic photographs were contributed by students from the PolyU school of design, while the more candid 'occasion shots' were snapped by its staff. Only the printing was left to outsiders.

This latest publication also took home the silver for the cover photo category of the international ARC Awards 2000.