The Background

Since its establishment in 1965 in Co Cavan, Kingspan has grown to become a global leader in high-performance insulation and building envelopes.

For our ninth Annual Report for Kingspan we continued the progression of the project towards prioritising a digital-first approach while still delivering a strong print output.

The Idea

Buildings and construction account for 37% of energy related emissions globally. This year, the main theme of Kingspan's 2024 annual report focussed on how Kingspan’s approach & product range as well as how they are creating complete envelope solutions in this sector is helping towards reducing that number.

With this in mind, we agreed that the visual aesthetic of ‘technical drawings’ or ‘architectural blueprints’ really connected with the theme of completing the envelope.

The strategic focus on innovation and products means we could lean heavily into this world and create an expanded visual language for the 2024 report that supports this vision.

The Execution

To begin with, our integrated visual approach was grounded in a 44px square grid to mirror the visual aesthetic of these architectural blueprints. This grid was super flexible and could scale up and down in multiples of 44px to create a strong sense of rhythm in our layouts across both touchpoints.

With this grid as a foundation it allowed us to layer up design elements & play with layouts through integrating it with type, imagery, video and blocks of colour resulting in a varied and visually interesting experience.

Across digital this solid foundation meant we were able to explore how we could push this system through different scrolling interactions, UI animations & interactive elements to elevate the experience and add to the communication value of the report. We achieved this via interactive envelope diagrams, horizontal scrolling timelines & a 3D interactive globe.

Within the print, this visual approach had to be balanced with all of the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting requirements so that this content could be easily accessible, meaning the layouts needed be dialled up or down depending on the needs of the section. The result is a seamless, integrated reporting experience across both touchpoints that takes advantage of the particulars of each medium.