As a general rule, the Capital Insights division of Capital Group creates a substantial report once per quarter. As part of their "thought leadership" strategy, this ensures that their clients have a continuous flow of valuable information, building trust in CG as a source of knowledge. The bi-annual "Outlook" is produced for the 1st and 3rd quarter publication, while the 2nd and 4th quarters are usually a "Guide to" report, focusing on current topics or relevant upcoming market disruptors. The "Guide to international investing" and the "Guide to elections" are two of these offerings.
Spices from the Orient? This guide covers how to think about investing internationally, and the value thinking globally can have to your portfolio. In my role as the sole Sr. Visual designer for the CI division, I was responsible for layout and design of all aspects of this project, including data visualization, print pre press and working directly with the print producer to ensure proper execution, as well as working with project managers to determine timelines and scheduling and social media managers for all digital marketing campaigns. This campaign also included animating many of the charts for use in a digital advisor library.
Elections still happen in pandemics. The "Guide to elections" was in the works when the news was breaking about Wuhan and work from home orders were just starting. Despite the pandemic turning the market on its head, the information in this guide is mostly evergreen as it looks back at an aggregate of decades of election results. Designed to be a downloadable PDF first, this guide is a bit shorter than others and considerations were made for digital UX (page numbers are centered, the charts stretch full width for easier legibility, the template from page to page is consistent, etc.). In my role as the sole Sr. Visual designer for the CI division, I was responsible for layout and design of all aspects of this project, including data visualization, print pre press and working directly with the print producer to ensure proper execution, as well as working with project managers to determine timelines and scheduling and social media managers for all digital marketing campaigns.
A "guide to" report is usually accompanied by a live webinar during which CG financial professionals discuss in detail the topics included in the printed report. While the printed piece is meant to be concise and easy to digest, the webinars can be much more robust meaning the slide deck usually includes not only the charts from the guide but any additional relevant data as well. In situations such as the election a pre and post webinar is held and the guide acts as a supplement to the up-to-date events.
When they go to client meetings, CG advisors take the latest report content with them, but it is also helpful to reference past charts to discuss how the markets are shifting. A digital library of charts was created to remove the need to transport multiple printed documents. Current and past charts can be referenced in this digital format, and animations are added to increase visual interest and reinforce the actions the chart is portraying.
The assets and imagery for guides are adapted for use on social media platforms to market the webinars and web articles created from the core content. At CG, this means adapting the content to fit the brand templates while working closely with the Senior Channel Producer to determine sizes and requirements needed as well as any latest marketing trends that are worth exploring.
