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Making Your Proposal Layout Visually Appealing BY: Bryant Freeland

Posted in Latest Updates on November 16, 2011 by Alex

Making a visually appealing proposal goes far beyond just graphics and encompasses everything from the writing, binding, and the overall layout and to have a winning proposal you must keep this in mind. When formatting a proposal you must be aware that the reviewers will be looking at a multitude of proposals and will get lost in page after page of plain text.  To ensure that your proposals are read and your message is conveyed here are a few simple tips to help you stay away from giant blocks of plain text.

1.     Every page should have a graphic or table that uses color to get the reviewer’s attention.

2.     Create Heading styles that easily show sections and subsections.

3.     Use page breaks and binder tabs to show a definitive start and stop to your sections.

4.     Use bold fonts and colors to highlight specific thoughts and points that you want the reviewer to see, such as awards, quotes, and metrics.

5.     Ensure that when using bullets and numbered lists that you bold or italicize them.

As always make sure that you follow the proposal formatting guidelines. Ensure that these tips aren’t being over used causing them to lose their visual appeal, and remember to work with your graphic design department to stay within the approved color palette. Using these tips will help every page of your proposal stand out and your have message conveyed to the reviewers.

 

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Comments (4)

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Jennis

You're the geraetst! JMHO
+0 Vote up Vote down Report

Jennis

You're the geraetst! JMHO
+0 Vote up Vote down Report

Jennis

You're the geraetst! JMHO
+0 Vote up Vote down Report

David Binnie

Greetings Mr Freeland Sorry to say this but the terms "whited sepulchres" and "style over substance" spring to mind The proposal of which I am proudest was one I managed 20 years ago as a consultant and, despite the fact that it looked absolutely awful, it became the highest-scoring bid ever submitted to the UK MoD Why? Because, as ever, the proposal evaluators were involved in the determination, in all areas, of the significant superiority of one bidder's proposition over those of all other contenders And the written arguments for selection in our bid were seen to be just that - superior to anything else submitted We demonstrated our awareness of the client's problems, we emphasised the benefits of our solutions, we provided details of all proposed programmes of work and how they were to be managed, we demonstrated the relevance of our success in related projects and we were subequently assessed as presenting minimal risk to the decision-makers It might have been nice to have had the time to make the document look pretty but, by devoting the time available to making an incontrovertible argument for our selection and making the readership eager to turn every page to see what was coming up next, we didn't need to They didn't buy our graphics, tables, fonts or colours They bought our ideas - and they were brilliant Go well David Binnie www.bidnavigator.co.uk

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