Case Study: The State of Shipping Report

Shippit's State of Shipping Report is an annual industry research publication - now in its third year (2026 edition) - that serves as a benchmark for retail and ecommerce delivery trends across Australia and New Zealand. It collates data from thousands of retailers and shoppers, and millions of deliveries through Shippit’s proprietary data. The report positions Shippit as a leader in the industry, seeking to understand how fulfilment and consumer delivery is evolving and how retailers are adapting their ecommerce and logistics strategies as customer expectations for speed and reliability rise.

When I first started at Shippit in late 2022, the first iteration of the report was in planning and its scope and definition was vastly different. In fact, the report was named something else entirely - the Deep Merchant Survey - and the brief described it as an industry benchmark report with a focus on customer survey results. A research agency was commissioned to conduct the survey, however when the results came back, it did not provide the data needed to own the narrative. Long story short, the brief wasn’t quite right, and the research was unusable. The DMS Survey was shelved, and much of the early concepting I had worked on was also put on hold.

Some inspiration added to the report moodboard in its early stages.
IBM 2007-2008 Corporate Responsibility Report

Fast forward a few months and a change in leadership in the marketing team has put the industry report squarely back in focus. It’s November 2023 now, and Head of Marketing, Shauna Butcher, has set a goal for the team to publish this report by June of the following year, right before industry events seasons hits its peak. A new external research agency, Humii, has taken on the surveying and research phase, and early results are showing promise. By April, a draft of the report is written and I can start bringing my concepts into the design stage in earnest. The brief is to develop a visual identity that is distinctly Shippit, but also pertains to the report in and of itself. The result, after a few iterations, is a digital report that elevates Shippit’s bold pop colours with solid outlines and thick drop shadows - championing the data and hero’ing its contributors. The style is clean with generous use of negative space so the layout can breathe, and each section is colour coded with Shippit’s newly assigned secondary tints for ease of navigation. By the time the campaign for the first State of Shipping Report has concluded, it has directly contributed to a 10 point increase in industry share of voice upon its release - and Shippit leads the industry share of voice by a wide margin (which it maintains today).

For its second act, the State of Shipping Report goes bigger - more research, more data, more content - and for me as the designer, more pages. The sophomore album is a roadblock for many creatives and the same can be said for the concept stage for SoS the sequel. With an increased word count, there was a risk that page layouts would start to cramp, leading to overstimulation on some pages and a lack of focal point on others. The solution was to colour code only a header bar at the top of the page, allowing a neutral background colour for the comprehensive passages of the report. The result is another resounding outcome, with media such as the ABC, Channel Nine and 2GB running stories on the report, and many other outlets quoting directly from it.

In amongst the buildup to the second report, someone on my team asks why can’t we make print editions of the report. It’s not feasible at that late stage to deliver - print design has a wide array of requirements that needs consideration from the beginning of the design process - but the seed of the idea has been planted. The following year, the goal has been set that the third edition of the State of Shipping Report will include a print run.

Early concepts for the print edition of The State of Shipping Report 2026

This will be the most ambitious undertaking yet but the task is mitigated largely by the fact that the foundations have been laid from two previous editions of the report. The research process is watertight, our hypotheses are informed, and the narrative is shaped. For my part, I set expectations early and allow extra time, resources and creative bandwidth for the identity of the report. In the concept stage, four creative directions are presented on a scale from corporate professional to playful experimentation, and I outline the pros and cons of each option. Ultimately, a minimal Swiss style is given the greenlight and I am able to design in earnest.

My guiding principles: a strong grid, clean typography, generous use of negative space, and splashes of photography to add a human element into the deep passages of text and data. A subtle grain is overlaid on top of photos, testimonials and charts to amplify the tactility of this first print run. In total, 68 pages are given my complete attention and fixation. While the report is at the printers, my focus shifts to preparing all of the launch assets, which includes the digital report, marketing assets, and another first for this edition, an in-person launch event. All of our best laid plans coalesce on a Thursday night in Melbourne, as the State of Shipping Report 2026 is successfully launched with copies in hand on the night, and many more to be directly mailed in the following days.
The trilogy is triumphantly complete… but there’s always opportunity for another saga.

Acknowledgements
I’d like to acknowledge and thank my following team members for their support and collaboration:
Shauna Butcher, Head of Marketing, for your unwavering leadership and support through all three editions. Your encouragement pushed me past my creative barriers, and your comprehensive eye goes beyond review.
Jon Wearne, Head of Design, for your systems thinking which helped me articulate my creative thoughts into guiding principles.
Tom Hayward, Content Manager, for thoughtful consideration of design implications during your creative process.
Kaylee Liu, Growth Marketing Manager, for your wide reaching strategising and sowing the seed.