2026 State of Downtown Durham Report
Last year, we took Downtown Durham, Inc.’s State of Downtown Durham report to a whole new level by applying their new brand styles to an upgraded chapter layout. This year? We pivoted from a traditional, vertical layout, to a horizontal layout.
Good Work Adapts
There’s certainly something to be said about change for the sake of keeping things fresh. From a more proactive perspective, it’s good practice to evaluate how well a layout is actually supporting your content. Staying curious, evaluating our materials, and then refining them are all standard parts of HALO 22’s working process for any project. As we say, “Good work adapts.” Knowing these reports would continue to feature more data tables than narrative, we decided it was time to give a horizontal layout a try.
The new layout orientation proved to be a more natural fit for wider data tables, making them easier to skim—and came with the added bonus of opening up vertical space on the page. We were able to fit more content on each page as a result of the tidier tables, cutting the total page count by an entire signature—four pages! Fewer pages reduces print cost, which is always welcome when it doesn’t mean lowering quality. The resulting spreads command attention—but keeping the same overall size means the report still plays nice in business settings.
To top it off, the report looks just as great on screen as a PDF as it does in print. Its reach can continue successfully in print or online, well after the meeting date.
The Results
We love when our work results in clients being able to convey key data to their audience with more confidence and clarity! Downtown Durham, Inc. swiftly noted how happy they were with the layout rework. It’s a great example of how something as conceptually straightforward as layout rotation can strengthen communication and (sometimes) even help a bit on budget.
Have a report coming up? Need to make a big impression, even on a tight budget? HALO 22 can help at all stages, from content development to layout and design—for publication in print or on screen. Get started today by sending us a few easy details.
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