Jp/Politikens hus
No margin for error
The beginning
In 2018, Søren Nyeland recommended me to Stig Ørskov, CEO of JP/Politikens Hus, Denmark’s largest private media consortium. They needed someone to design their annual report. I was still working at Politiken at the time, and was tasked with transformining a slew of word documents and excel sheets into a coherent report.
I built it from scratch: 32 pages, a clean system aligned with Anna Thurfjell’s tasteful CVI and design manual, infographics for both financials and sustainability, photography coordinated to present every part of the consortium with care. As for the financial details, Deloitte signs off on the finished document – there is simply no margin for errors on this level.
The rapport grew over the years. From 32 to 70. Meanwhile, regulations tightened, CSR became ESG. The in-house team changed as compliance requirements evolved. Through all of it, the system I designed kept it coherent.
Then I took a year away, working at B.T., part of a competing consortium. Then, one autumn day, Stig Ørskov called and asked me to pick it up again. I have done so every year since, now under CEO Klaus Høeg-Hagensen.
The redesign
Last year, Stig asked for something new. He’d seen the annual reports from Børsen and TV2 and wanted that level of ambition. A carbon copy made no sense: I wanted to (and needed to) stay true to Anna’s CVI. Everything else was up for consideration. I suggested what might seem simple: rotating the design. Still A4, but horizontal. It changed just about everything: the grid, the photograph formats, the infographic architecture, the way information breathes on a spread. More iconography, more space, a document that moves like a publication rather than a compliance file. The identity of JP/Politikens Hus remained intact, but the rapport became a different beast.
The actual process is something like this …
Over four months, I build a first draft that gives the board, the head of ESG and the C-suite a visual framework to react to. From there, the iterations begin. Ten rounds of corrections is normal. Edits land two days before deadline. New versions sit fresh on board members’ desks by morning.
There is no margin for error. Neither the board nor Deloitte will not sign it if the information is inaccurate. The CFO and CEO will not approve a report that misrepresents the consortium to its stakeholders. Every infographic, every figure, every detail is checked, rechecked and checked again. I do this work alone, and while its not work that wins awards for bold ideas, it is work that represents something different in my tool box: tight, clean design that is really a matter of trust. Trust that I can deliver, always, and deliver work that represents JP/Politikens Hus.
The rapport can be found online, if you care to peruse it and my work:
JP/Politikens Hus Annual Rapport 2024
