Ethical Design Co.

A print and digital design agency that cares.

Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) 2023 Annual Report website home page - Full colour mockup on a light grey background, displayed on a laptop.

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The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) is a social justice organisation working to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia.

BSL has been working alongside people experiencing disadvantage since 1930 to address the fundamental causes of poverty in Australia. BSL’s purpose is to advance a fair Australia through leadership on policy reform, partnerships with communities and delivering quality services.

BSL’s unique approach is informed directly by those people experiencing disadvantage and uses evidence drawn from the organisation’s research, together with insights from their programs and services, to develop practical solutions that work.

BSL fosters collaborative partnerships with the broader community and organisations Australia-wide, working together to create positive and lasting change.

Visit: bsl.org.au for more information.

Content writing & copyediting
Data visualisation
Icon design
Infographic design
Marketing design
Report design
Secondary branding
Sustainable printing
UX design & strategy
Website design & development

The brief

Our extended team was engaged to produce the BSL Annual report for 2023; a publication that spans the achievements and highlights of BSL from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. The deliverables for this project included a comprehensive digital report in the form of a website, 52-page print booklet, and 4-page impact/summary brochure.

EDCo. was responsible for:

  • content strategy, copywriting, and copyediting of all three versions of the report (digital, printable, and summary brochure) 
  • visual/graphic design of all versions from concept to completion
  • web development in Webflow CMS
  • eco printing of the full print report (52pp), financial report (56pp), and 4-page impact/summary brochure
  • project management of all deliverables

We incorporated custom infographics, animations, icons, and striking photographs into the design in line with BSL’s established brand guidelines. BSL is committed to making its publications accessible to a wide range of users, including those with disabilities. Therefore, the brief was to make the website interactive and highly engaging, with attention paid to the best user experience and ensuring AA accessibility compliance.

EDCo. would like to extend a big thank you to our partner agency for this project, Disruptive Media, who worked on the strategy, content development, and copyediting of all versions of the report.

Special mentions to:

  1. Tanya Heaton, our fabulous content lead, who liaised with over 30 stakeholders at BSL, conducted various interviews with staff and participants, and developed and edited all the content for the Annual report.
  2. Luke Sharrock, our developer, for his Webflow wizardry. Luke skillfully incorporated multiple animated elements, enhancing the website’s user-friendly experience.
  3. Sonja Meyer, our design lead, for her beautiful designs of the website, print, and summary versions.
  4. Caitlin Jordan, our project manager, for all her hard work managing the project and the many moving parts.

Visit the BSL Annual report 2023 website here.

How is this ethical?

BSL is a renowned non-profit, charitable, social justice organisation that has been operating in Australia since the 1930 when Father Tucker’s activism for social reform amid the Great Depression led to its inception. BSL’s work contributes to Australia’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal #1 which aims to halve the proportion of people living in poverty by 2030.

The organisation offers a myriad of community services for all ages. Explore some of BSL’s key achievements for 2023 here. Or read some stories from BSL’s participants, team and volunteers here.

Our sustainability strategy

From our initial strategy sessions we were very attentive to potential ways we could solidify sustainability in this project. This included:

  • The A4 booklets and 4-page summary brochures were printed on FSC certified 100% recycled uncoated EcoStar paper stock.
  • The client chose to design and print the summary brochure in addition to the full 52-page print report as a way to ensure they could print fewer of the larger reports (printing these only for primary stakeholders), and thus save paper and reduce print costs and resources.
  • The summary brochure was designed with an impact infographic in the centrefold which can be opened up and put on a wall by BSL staff, to be used as a poster. The idea here was to ensure staff could reference the organisation’s many achievements throughout the current year and seek motivation and inspiration from them. It also means that the printed piece has a longer life, enhancing its usefulness and reducing immediate wastage.
  • Care was taken to minimise video content and slow-loading content on the digital version of the report, reducing server response time and ensuring an efficient use of resources. We used vector animations throughout the website and kept the content clean and succinct to assist with this goal.
  • Our annual donation of trees has been calculated to offset this project, including all printed collateral.

See for yourself…

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