An Annual Publication for The National Archives.

The challenge

The National Archives’ is the official archive for the UK government, England, and Wales. For the past three years, The National Archives have produced an annual publication called “A Year in Archives” to support and celebrate their work within the archives sector. Toast was briefed to create a vibrant, engaging design to bring this year’s publication to life.

The approach

As with all design projects of this nature, we have a defined design process here at Toast that allows us to achieve the best outcome for the project in hand.

We brainstormed the brief and sketched our initial thoughts and ideas out, before presenting them to the client. Our ideas focused on how to best to communicate the key messages and the format of the publication.

The solution

The result is a gatefold handout design that allows the reader to engage with different aspects of the campaign on separate pages. Before unveiling a large format design in an infographic style, which brings together key messages and information, facts, and figures in a vibrant and engaging way.

The infographic elements created for the publication have also been used as social media graphics to support the campaign.

It all begins with a sketch

All design projects such as this one begin with our designers brainstorming the brief and sketching their ideas out; this allows us to think fast and creatively. All clients are presented with the sketched ideas first before the best ideas are worked up on the screen.