Danielle Vernelson
eBooks + Reports
Case Study Improvements to Sales Enablement PRO Collateral
Goal of the project: Convert the color palette to accessible colors, and make other improvements to the look of SE PRO reports.
Created while working at: Highspot
Role: Graphic Designer
Project Details Improving the Appearance and Accessibility of Reports
Introduction
My marketing partner on Sales Enablement PRO wanted to upgrade the look and feel of the report that would be coming out soon. She felt it was important that the new report still fit in well with the others on the SE PRO reports page, so she said she wanted "to step up from brand 3.0 to 3.5." Make improvements, but not too drastic. I discussed with my Art Director that this would also be a good opportunity to check accessibility with the brand colors.
I tested all of the colors, and confirmed that the light blue color wasn't accessible.
Choosing an Accessible Color
Before:
After I found that our light blue color didn’t have enough contrast with either dark or white text, I started to do more research on what makes charts more accessible. I realized that our pie charts also had accessibility issues because the edges of each pie slice weren’t distinctive enough. Here are the problem areas:
After:
I selected a new light blue color, and created a series of swatches in different shades of blue, that could be used for charts. I added white strokes to the pie charts so that the edges were distinct to the viewer.
More Improvements to the Look of Reports
My next step was to research and create a proposal for design of interior pages of the reports. Here are the ideas I came up with:
Based on the inspiration I found online, I came up with some new layouts, and started adding charts to a white box with a drop shadow, giving some of the pages more of that “dashboard” feel. Here are some of the old pages, compared to the new:
Cover and TOC
Before:
The covers all utilized architectural photos. The table of contents was fairly plain.
After:
The new covers utilized people photography alongside the brand's diagonals and fractals to appear more fresh and eye-catching. A subtle cutout effect makes the people pop out. City photography is now used on the inside. And, I made the new reports a bit wider to fit better on the average screen.
Introduction and Exec Summary
Before:
The treatment used for the introduction and exec summary was a bit plain.
After:
The introduction and other transition pages employ a dynamic angle. The exec summary has more of the “dashboard” appearance, and is distinctive from the rest of the report with its dark background.
Chart Slides
Before:
The chart slides felt a bit blocky, and charts floated on the side opposite the text.
After:
Charts and callouts now lived in blocks with drop-shadows. I explored new ways to display data, such as stat callouts, or donut charts where only one percentage was called attention to.
Results
My partners on the Marketing team were extremely pleased by the new designs. The new color palette and page treatments filtered into other areas of the brand, like social graphics and presentations. And it felt good to know that we were making sure that people with visual impairments would have an easier time reading our reports.