WeTransfer is a Dutch company established in 2009, and 80 million people use its service to send data via the internet. The company’s ‘Ideas Report 2021’ is not an annual report but rather, a survey of their customers. Based on interviews with 10,000 customers in 135 countries, it is an effort to document the state of creative work 2021, and to predict coming changes.
The tone of voice is young, competent, and optimistic. The report’s findings suggest a fundamental shift is coming, in the way creative work happens, where it originates, and who the next key players will be.
The report hinges on an examination of five key findings from their survey: 1) an imminent change to ‘the creative world order’; 2) how Gen Z is changing the way we work; 3) how gender and colour-consciousness are changing the workplace for the better; 4) the loss of ego in creative work; 5) and why creatives are resigning from traditional studios in increasing numbers.
Each key finding is accompanied by short summary with statistics. Some key findings link to an essay by a creative, digging into the findings in greater depth, or offering their own perspective on the workplace of 2021. While the PDF links directly to the essays on WeTransfer’s website, the online report appears not to – an odd choice.
Designed in-house by We Transfer, the report gives primacy to the text by using all other design elements to support it. The colour palette is simple but unusual: black, cream, red, lime-yellow. The yellow does additional work as a highlighted cursor in the online report. Icons are relied on, but the effect is subtle. Portraits are in black and white. The design favours typography, and uses a single sans serif in multiple weights, set in black. The online report makes us of simple animation, for transitions between sections and for infographics. All of these design choices allow the text, and therefore, the information, to stand out. It’s a brave approach and since the text is presented in short blocks, with pithy headlines, it works well.
