Project Overview

Nikko Asset Management, a global investment firm headquartered in Tokyo, required a suite of quarterly equity fund reports covering three distinct strategies — Asia ex-Japan, Global Equity, and Japan Value. Each 8-page report needed to serve as a polished marketing and distribution tool for professional investors across EMEA, communicating fund philosophy, ESG credentials, team expertise, and performance data in a format that was both visually compelling and compliant with financial marketing standards.

The campaign required a design led approach to:

• Adapt Nikko AM's established brand templates to accommodate three unique fund narratives within a unified visual system

• Translate dense financial data, performance charts, sector allocations, risk metrics — into layouts that were clear and scannable without losing rigour

• Deliver each report in two formats: a print-ready PDF and an editable PowerPoint, so internal client teams could update data independently between design cycles

  
  

Target Audience

Professional investors, wealth managers, and institutional allocators across EMEA markets. The design had to feel authoritative and data-rich while remaining visually accessible, credible enough for a regulated financial context, refined enough to stand out in a competitive asset management landscape.

My Responsibilities

I led the initial design concept and visual direction, then moved into production alongside two other designers to deliver all three reports. My responsibilities spanned both phases:

• Establishing the overall design concept, visual language, and layout system across all three reports

• Defining how Nikko AM's brand templates would be adapted to fit new content structures each quarter

• Producing layouts across the Asia ex-Japan, Global Equity, and Japan Value reports

• Ensuring visual consistency across the team's output — same grid, typographic hierarchy, and colour application throughout

• Structuring every layout with dual-format production in mind — print PDF and editable PowerPoint

• Reviewing and aligning production work across the three-person design team through to final delivery

Design Process

Research & Exploration

• Reviewed Nikko AM's existing brand guidelines and previous report formats to establish continuity

• Mapped the content structure of each fund report identifying where data density was highest and where visual hierarchy needed the most work

• Aligned with the client team early on tone: authoritative but approachable, data-forward but not clinical

Visual Development

• Built a shared layout system across all three reports, consistent grid, typographic hierarchy, and colour application — while giving each fund its own visual identity within that framework

• Designed data visualizations, sector allocation charts, and performance tables that maintained legibility at the 8-page format scale

• Adapted every layout decision for PowerPoint compatibility: clean text boxes, swappable chart containers, and minimal layering to prevent breakage when non-designers edited the files

• Coordinated production with two designers, ensuring the system held across all hands touching the files

  
  

The Big Challenge

The core tension was the dual-format requirement. Every design decision made for the print PDF had to survive translation into PowerPoint — a format with far less typographic and layout precision. On top of that, coordinating production across three designers meant the system had to be documented and consistent enough for others to execute without drifting from the established direction.

The Solution

I locked in the design system before production began, fixed grid structures, predictable text box behaviour, chart templates that could be swapped without restructuring, and shared that framework clearly with the team. This kept the three reports visually cohesive even as production was split across multiple designers. The dual-format constraint also became a useful design filter: if a layout decision couldn't survive PowerPoint, it likely wasn't serving the content well in the first place.

Impact & Results

• All three reports were well received by the Nikko AM team and distributed as part of their EMEA investor marketing materials

• The PowerPoint format was successfully adopted by the client's internal teams for ongoing quarterly updates — confirming the system was built for real-world use

• The unified visual system gave Nikko AM's EMEA collateral a cohesive, professional identity across their full equity product range

  
  

What I Learned

• Leading concept and then stepping into production requires a clear handoff to yourself — the system you design has to be one you and others can actually execute under deadline

• Designing for editability from day one is a distinct skill — it means understanding how non-designers will interact with your files long after delivery

• Coordinating production across a small team works best when the design system does the heavy lifting — fewer decisions left open, less drift in the final output