Manatū Taonga Annual Report

Manatū Taonga is New Zealand's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The Ministry works to enrich the lives of all New Zealanders by promoting a confident and connected culture, by supporting arts, media, heritage and sports.

My Responsibilities

I was the lead designer for the 2018/19 Manatū Taonga Annual Report. Manatū Taonga had never had a designer lay out their annual report before, in their 20 year history. I was responsible for creating the report concept, layout, and print design.

The Brief

Manatū Taonga supports the cultural sector in arts, culture, heritage, sport, and broadcasting, and funds agencies such as The Royal New Zealand Ballet and Radio New Zealand. The Ministry also researches the history of Aotearoa to produce online resources and books, and looks after our national treasures. It’s a small ministry, but it has a wide reach and a big heart.

The brief for the 2018/19 Annual Report was simple: “can you make this look good for us please?” There were the usual requirements to have a performance section at the front and financials at the back, and a few public sector specifications the design team had to comply with for it to be tabled at Parliament. But other than that, as the lead designer I was given the time and trust to represent the Ministry's work.

The Response

As the brief was very open, I made a list of non-negotiables that I wanted to achieve. The most important was to make the 2018/19 Annual Report a place where Manatū Taonga staff could see their work reflected with pride. Previous reports had been very no-frills – mostly black and white with a few small photos – I spent hours tracking down photo permissions and credits so that the report was full of colourful evidence of their mahi. I embellished pages with illustrations to break up the grid and add a handmade touch.

Once the Ministry’s mahi was front and centre inside the report, the next problem was the cover. It was clear that they couldn’t use one nice photo on the cover when we were trying to represent every aspect of the diverse cultural sector inside. One day I discovered shots of a printmaking workshop at a Matariki celebration, where Ministry kaimahi produced beautiful and meaningful artworks. Julie, an advisor for the Ministry, led the workshop. Emma made a print of Pukeahu, where she works at the War Memorial and Education Centre. Matene carved a big ‘M’ for Manatū Taonga and Malama created four patterns inspired by her Tongan roots. Cherie depicted the view from her bedroom and Martha illustrated a woman contemplating a rainy night during Matariki.

I emailed everyone who produced a print, and the next day they brought in their delicate pieces of art to scan. The prints use a traditional art technique, so they ticked the culture, art and heritage boxes. I chose a beautiful linen paper stock for the cover, recalling the textured paper the artworks were originally printed on.

I’m particularly proud of the cover because I think using artwork made by Manatū Taonga staff emphasizes that their hands have literally brought about the initiatives inside.

Critical Reception

The 2018/19 Manatū Taonga Annual Report was profiled by Design Assembly in February 2020, as part of their "Fresh From the Field" series.

You can read the full report here on the Ministry's website.

Collaborators

Flavia Rose: Senior Designer & Project Lead
Katie Cheer: Designer

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