Work reports encodes values as a small set of honest encodings repeated every cycle. Corporate reporting culture after DuPont charts and 20th-c. board packs.
In reports, ads and assignments it fits recurring reviews, budget bridges, headcount, pipeline. Skip it when a one-off story that needs a custom visual, or an ad that must shout.
Principles
- Encoding — Work reports encodes a small set of honest encodings repeated every cycle.
- History — Corporate reporting culture after DuPont charts and 20th-c. board packs
- Fit — recurring reviews, budget bridges, headcount, pipeline
- Shared baseline — The eye compares length and position more accurately than area.
- Audience — PowerPoint, Excel or Google Sheets and Meta, Google and retail print share the same geometry.
Misconceptions
- Pretty equals true — Decoration rarely persuades; it slows reading.
- 3-D helps — Perspective distortion wrecks comparison. Keep it flat.
- More series is richer — Do not stack stories. One Work reports, one claim.
- Default palette is fine — Rainbow defaults fail color-blind viewers and grey print. Change Excel or Google Sheets defaults.
Why it matters
- Work — Work: recurring reviews, budget bridges, headcount, pipeline. Readable in four minutes in PowerPoint.
- Ads — Ads: one number and one shape speak first in Meta, Google and retail print.
- School — School: for lab reports and poster boards, pick the form that answers the rubric.
- Craft — Craft: honour a small set of honest encodings repeated every cycle and decoration falls away.
Work reports: honour a small set of honest encodings repeated every cycle, and switch when a one-off story that needs a custom visual, or an ad that must shout.