Case Study
Creating the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ 2024 Annual Report
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a non-profit organization that has been providing the public, policymakers, and scientists with information to reduce human-made threats to our existence since 1945. Known globally for their iconic Doomsday Clock, the Bulletin focuses on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies.
In the midst of a leadership transition, the Bulletin needed their 2024 Annual Report to serve multiple critical functions:
- showcase the organization’s stability during change,
- demonstrate impact to donors,
- and modernize their digital presence while honoring their 75+ year legacy.
The Bulletin asked Reaktiv to help reimagine their annual print report as a dynamic digital piece that could speak to donors and supporters while also appealing to younger folks, too.
Project Overview
The scope involved creating a scrollable, interactive web page that would capture the depth and impact of the Bulletin’s work throughout 2024. The project also required working within the constraints of Beaver Builder and maintaining brand consistency while introducing more engaging digital elements.
The Bulletin’s annual report wasn’t just a collection of statistics and achievements; it represented an important communications touchpoint with major donors and institutional supporters during a period of leadership transition.
Challenges and Solutions
Building a digital version of the annual report came in response to some challenges the Bulletin faced:
- A primarily print-focused communication strategy that limited engagement with their content
- Limited technical resources to create an interactive digital experience
- The need to showcase complex content areas (nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity) in an engaging format
Our approach centered around a narrative arc we called “Continuity and Evolution.” This structure allowed us to highlight the Bulletin’s leadership transition while using their achievements to demonstrate its stability and the foundation for a new era.
The technical implementation came with its own challenges and a hard requirement to use Beaver Builder. We navigated these challenges by:
- Augmenting Beaver Builder’s capacity with Ultimate Addons.
- Designing expandable content sections that allowed users to dive deeper into stories that interested them while keeping the page lean.
- Creating an impactful responsive design that worked across devices.
- Designing a visual hierarchy that matched the report’s narrative arc, dialing up or down how interactive sections were depending on their content.
Innovative Content Presentation
To show the report’s transformation, we used interactive elements to allow readers to engage with its contents in a more meaningful way:
Interactive Stories
Rather than simply listing articles, we created expandable sections users could explore to read impactful content across the Bulletin’s four focus areas: nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity.
Leadership Messaging
To preserve the reading flow and overall balance of the report, we designed expandable sections for the President’s letter and the Editor’s message. This allowed visitors to “zoom in” to read content at their own pace and preferred level of detail.
Financial Transparency
Financial data is key in an annual report and we presented it through responsive charts and graphs, making complex information more accessible while maintaining the transparency donors expect.
Doomsday Clock Integration
We incorporated the iconic Doomsday Clock announcement—a key moment in the Bulletin’s annual communications—with compelling visuals and global media coverage to show how much its message resonated with the world.
Results and Benefits
The digital annual report delivered several significant benefits to the Bulletin:
- Enhanced donor engagement by creating a more interactive, visually compelling presentation of the organization’s impact.
- A “scrollytelling” experience elevating content discovery and allowing readers to navigate directly to sections of interest rather than scrolling through a static PDF.
- Projected forward momentum during leadership transition through thoughtful content architecture.
- Created a platform that could be shared more easily across digital channels, expanding reach beyond traditional donor audiences.
- Established a scalable digital template that could be evolved for future annual reports.
There’s an expectation of gravitas in the Bulletin’s annual report, and we preserved that integrity while building a digital experience that feels familiar to younger audiences.
Beyond Transformation: A Template
The 2024 Annual Report was an important step in the Bulletin’s commitment to evolve how they communicate, while honoring their legacy. It built the foundation for a kind of digital storytelling that evolves with its audience. By moving a traditionally static document online, we helped them share the scope of their impact and highlight their resilience through a leadership change.
Are you ready to show your audience the impact their support made possible? Are you raising funds to boost your mission? Let’s discuss how our values align and how Reaktiv can help you achieve your goals.