One-Page Reports Videos

In this first video, we start out by talking about why you might consider creating a one-page report. We know, it’s yet another report. But we have found that the effort that goes into creating this accompanying one-pager really pays off!

We also show some examples of one-page reports from our own work. We hope these examples help ignite your imagination in how you can use one-page reports in your own work! We share more examples of one-page reports, as well as other resources, at evalu-ate.org/onepagers.

Your Turn

Have you used one-page reports in your own practice? What was the reaction from clients, stakeholders, or other readers?

It may be tempting to jump straight to visuals when starting your one-page report, but we suggest starting with a solid foundation. Defining the scope and intentions for your one-page report is important in enhancing its power to communicate data to your readers.

In this video, we will walk through the basic foundations of creating a one-page report. Starting with identifying your targeted audience, then moving on to writing a purpose statement, and prioritizing your one-page report information. We also share a great example from Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic’s book Storytelling with Data.

Your Turn

How have you tailored writing to a particular audience in the past?  Is identifying and tailoring content to a specific audience difficult for you?  (It can be for us!)

Now that you have a good grasp on the content and scope of your one-page report, let’s talk about visual strategies!

Our brains are really talented at detecting patterns and making sense of visual information before our brain has comprehended the meaning of the actual text.  Using these strategies intentionally can help you lead your reader to what you think is most important.

In this video, we talk about visual strategies including using grids, creating an intentional path, creating visual hierarchies, and paying attention to white space. All of these are important in creating a one-page report that will be effective in capturing the attention of your reader while allowing the busy reader to absorb the most pertinent information.

Your Turn

Do you use these strategies in your work?  Have you seen examples of these strategies in use?

By this point, you have already gone through steps 1-8 of the 10 Step process. It’s easy to want to be done and skip the last two steps. We are also excited to share our final creations! But these last two steps are crucial and worth the effort.

Our final video, we talk about the final two steps for creating a one-page report: Get Feedback and Triple Check Consistency. Although hearing criticisms of your work may be difficult to hear sometimes, it will only make your one-page report better. To help put the constructive in front of the criticism, we suggest giving your reviewers some structure for their feedback. And finally, a triple, sometimes quadruple, check on final details of font, alignment, size, and colors can help polish off your one-pager.