Writing Business Bids and Proposals For Dummies

Chapter 11

Making Your Proposals Look Good

IN THIS CHAPTER

Capturing attention with design

Understanding the basic principles of design

Making your solution memorable with graphics and charts

Personal computers have made everyone a desktop publisher. Whether you use bundled word processors, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or even high-end publishing packages like Adobe Creative Suite, you have the power to create proposals with magazine-quality design and layout. This is both a blessing and a curse. Though many have the software to create professional-looking documents, fewer know the principles and techniques for designing documents to meet professional standards. Moreover, nothing screams “unprofessional” like a proposal with a cluttered, unbalanced layout and cheesy clip art.

Because you’re reading this book, we assume that you don’t have in-house graphics and publishing resources. But if you have a PC or even a tablet, you have the power to incorporate textual elements, photos, graphics, tables, and word diagrams that bring a higher level of professionalism to your proposals. All you need is a set of principles and guidelines, which is what this chapter is all about.

Designing Eye-Catching, Accessible Documents

Most businesspeople understand that the overall design and layout of your proposal helps to make a positive early impression on decision makers and evaluators (if the proposal looks good, the solution’s probably good, too). But did you know that good design is essential ...