The humble dandelion gets top
billing on the cover of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee's
latest
Annual Review.
The Government
advisers have featured a flight of shining purple elements from a
‘dandelion clock’ on the cover of their latest report.
Each year, JNCC strives to bring something different to the
presentation of its Annual Review, helping to promote the
vast array of work on UK and international nature conservation that
the organisation undertakes. This year the question asked was: “How
does nature spread itself?” Seeds came to mind. The familiar
dandelion is therefore used as a design motif in reflecting,
subtly, JNCC’s vision and mission. Children like to blow the seeds
of a dandelion ‘clock’, and the seeds are then spread, settling and
growing far from their origin. In a similar way, JNCC spreads its
knowledge as far as possible. For example, JNCC’s Common Standards
Monitoring work centres upon recording data about biodiversity and
geodiversity, at set points in time, making comparisons about the
‘state of nature’ and making the information freely available, so
that nature conservation projects are well-informed.
JNCC have also used the dandelion seed image as a navigation
aid throughout the publication, using different angles and colours
to reflect successive chapters. In addition, dandelion seeds appear
again on right-hand pages, slightly changing position from page to
page, creating a “flicker-book”: a dandelion seed animation. This
is all designed to support the impact of the text.
The Review contains spectacular images of some of the
wildlife and habitats that JNCC is working to conserve.
JNCC's portfolio of work covers everything from international
biodiversity conventions to Overseas Territories, tackling issues
involving trade in endangered species through to international
designations of UK habitats.
The cover stock is Bier
Papier, which is made of approximately 10% beer fibres (hops,
malt and yeast), 50% recycled beer labels, and 40% Totally Chlorine
Free pulp from sustainable forests. The inner pages are printed on
Era Silk – made from 50% UK-sourced genuine waste pulp
obtained from within 100 miles of the plant in Kent (leading to
excellent carbon footprint credentials) and 50% sustainable sources
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. In addition, by
recycling UK-sourced waste paper, it lessens the pressure on UK
landfill sites.
The report continues a standard that
has helped the JNCC Annual Report to win the coveted
"Public Service Annual Report of the Year" honour at the Charity
and Public Service Publishing Awards in 2002/03 and 2003/04, and a
nomination last year. The last two Annual Reports
also achieved Awards of Excellence at the prestigious Communicators
in Business Awards.
“JNCC has built a reputation on
innovation and unique problem solving”, notes JNCC Director of
Resources and External Affairs, Marcus Yeo. “Our Annual
Report reflects that way of working. It is aimed at a wide range of
individuals and organisations that have an interest in UK and
international nature conservation. We hope it both informs and
inspires them, while highlighting areas where we may be able to
work together for everyone's benefit.”