AFA

AFA's challenge was to transform their annual report into an intriguing, creative document representative of their artist clients. In the past, their annual reports had been heavy in information, and overloaded with statistics; consequently, it suffered from poor readership. Moreover, the AFA had only poor quality, low-resolution photos to work with. Finally, the artist stories they wanted to feature were interesting, but were missing the wow factor that really engages people.

Incite devised a three-year plan that would turn AFA's annual reports into comic books. We believed the graphic novel was a medium that would better capture the creative, edgy qualities of Alberta's artists, not to mention it would help the report to stand out. The medium also allowed us to spice up artist stories and yearly statistics by writing them in a unique comic-book style. We also worked with the low-resolution photos by altering their appearance to fully embody the comic book genre.

Each year the report has been inspired with a new theme that has informed the overall look and feel of each particular edition. The third year we really pushed the envelope by printing the report with an embossed foil cover.

• AFA's annual report has become not only a valuable resource highlighting the association's activities, but also an art piece in and of itself: readership has increased.
• The embossed foil cover on the third edition caught everyone's attention and showcased AFA as the creative arts arm of the government.
• The cover image of the last three annual reports were reprinted on large banners and used to display at various significant art events, including Alberta Arts Days.