How to Create Report Covers

Completed report cover

Multipage reports communicate complex and lengthy information to an audience. For example, a middle manager may need to present a budget to the board of directors, or a college student may be submitting a science treatise to a professor. A well-designed cover can protect a report and make the report appear more polished and professional.

Things You'll Need

• Design program such as Adobe Photoshop, Pagemaker, or Word
• Paper, card stock
• Printer

Instructions

1. Plan your cover. What graphics and text will attract readers and communicate the contents of the report? Your choices can affect expenses. For example, while a multicolor cover for one board meeting report won't dent the budget, using the same cover on a thousand reports can get expensive. Because our example report is going out to100 affiliates, the cover will use one color on a black-and-white background.

2. 

   Set up the page format using the report page size and printer features and limitations as guides. For example, if your printer cannot print to the edge of a letter-sized cover, format the page to have a 1-inch margin on all sides. Our example centers an 8-by-10 inch cover layout on a letter-sized page and uses a color resolution of 300 pixels to the inch.

3. 

   Add a picture that conveys the contents of the report and resize it to fit the page. Adjust it as needed. If you're using the image as a background, make sure it does not obscure the foreground text with too much detail or clashing colors. Consider using a black-and-white background for colored text or a colored background for black text. The example transforms a color picture of a house into black and white, lightens it to make the text visible, and enlarges it to fit the page.

4. 

   Add text information such as title, author name, date, copyrights, names of superiors, company name and any contact information, such as address, phone number and email. If your background has many colors, try shadowing the text using a color opposite the font color. Our example uses two different fonts in blue with a black drop shadow.

5. Print a test copy on plain printer paper. Make any corrections as needed. Test to ensure how the cover should be inserted into the printer. Our example reveals that the cover's print side must face downward with the top oriented toward the feeder

6. Adjust the printer. Make sure the printer options are set for the cover material you're using. For anything other than plain printer paper, use manual feed and be sure to use the correct side and orientation. Our example adjusts the printer thickness lever to accept card stock, which is inserted using the orientation revealed by the print test.

7. Print the cover and attach it to the report using staples for thin reports or fasteners and binders for thicker documents.

Tips & Warnings

• If your printer cannot support thick covers, present your report in a binder that has a transparent front pocket. Print the cover on regular paper and insert the sheet into the pocket.

• Be sure to clear any copyright issues for any pictures you use on the cover. Covers for publicly-released company reports should be cleared by the author's manager and legal department.