Founded in 1977, the Cato Institute is an America libertarian think tank. It is one of the world’s top global think tanks and conducts research across a number of policy areas.
The Institute’s 2023 annual report is a mixed bag. A heavy reliance on images of media briefings and conferences creates a strong nonfictional, news-adjacent tone. A single illustration by French illustrator, Jean-Michel Tixier, stands out from the other illustrations in the report, with its strong, ligne claire style. It’s a shame Tixier’s work was not used more.
The other illustrators are uncredited. Their work is primarily of mountains and mountaineers, to support the report’s title, Rising to Liberty’s Greatest Challenges. Blue is the dominant colour, although it is unclear whether this is a function of the many news-style images and their backdrops, or a conscious design decision. It is, at least, uniformly applied across images, type treatments, and infographics.
The report relies on a handsome slab-serif typeface in multiple weights, paired with a narrow sans serif. The slab-serif is a beautiful typeface and makes reading a pleasure. Type is set mainly ragged right, in a two-column arrangement. This also makes for easy reading. While not a showy report, this stands out due to its choice of typeface and relaxed page grids.
