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How to use Color and Graphics in your Business Proposals
By Abe Cherian
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How to use Color and Graphics in your Business Proposals
By Abe Cherian
Copyright ? 2005
Most large and small businesses have their own unique
brand. This includes their logo, packaging or any other
kind of graphic. Writing a good business proposal often
requires some thought whether to use graphics and color.
Research recommends using color and graphics except for
those rare situations where the customer explicitly forbids
it. Government bids are less common than it used to be.
But, they need to be used with some judgment. Throwing in
clip art or colorful logos will probably do more damage
than good.
There are several factors that contribute to a good
package: page layout, legibility of the font, use of white
space. But, two of the more important tools you can use are
color and graphics.
Research indicates that using color and graphics can
increase the reader's interest, enhance retention, and
improve comprehension. In fact, the results showed the
following impact from color:
1. Increases comprehension up to 73% 2. Increases retention
and recall 55% to 78% 3. Increases motivation up to 80% 4.
Sells products and ideas 55% to 85% more effectively
If there's any bad, it's the fact that the research was
sponsored by Hewlett Packard. They just might have a vested
interest in getting business people to use more color
printers.
But the group that actually did the research was an
independent, third party, with good credibility. And those
figures are consistent with other research done by
publishers and educators.
A study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that
the use of simple graphics increased the persuasiveness of
a message by 47%. To measure the effect, they had a group
of people read a passage of text and rate it for
persuasiveness. Then they had another group rate the exact
same text, only this time it included a graphic. The score
jumped by 47%!
Why does this work? One factor is that some people learn
more easily through graphics than they do through words.
They are right-brain oriented. Also, some people are
skimmers, and graphics are more likely to slow down the
skimming process so that they absorb the content. Finally,
sometimes graphics, particularly those based on statistical
analysis or other quantified data, seem to carry more
authority than mere words: for more people a bar chart
showing the average annual temperature in three cities will
be more convincing than similar data presented only in
words.
Here are some ideas for using color and graphics to enhance
your document:
¡è Use your customer's logo on the title page of your
proposal and balance it in terms of size and impact with
your own logo. If you know that the customer absolutely
hates having their logo used by outsiders, obviously don't
do this. Too many proposals go out with a cover and title
page dominated by the vendor's logo. It comes across as
self centered and obnoxious.
¡è If the customer has a "company color," incorporate it
into your design. For example, using a line at the top of
the page in their color to separate the header from body
text, or putting major headings in their color, are subtle
ways of communicating to them.
¡è Avoid using clip art. It usually doesn't enhance your
document. It's not smart to throw something into the
document just because it's available. Your goal is to
include appropriate graphics that reinforce your message.
¡è Avoid highly technical graphics, complex diagrams and
charts. Simple graphics are better. They will attract more
attention and they will be easier to understand. If you
must include schematics, drawings, network diagrams, or
similar technical visuals, consider putting them in a
technical appendix or providing them as attachments.
¡è Graphics should be oriented horizontally on the page,
just like the text. The reader should never need to turn
your document sideways to look at your graphic.
¡è Write an active caption that not only explains what the
graphic is showing but also emphasizes a customer benefit.
In long documents, it's a good idea to number the graphics,
too.
¡è Discussing an idea in the text and then illustrating it
graphically is more effective than showing the graphic and
then discussing it. Never put all the graphics at the end
of the document. If people have to flip back and forth
between the text and the graphics, they won't get the full
value of either.
¡è Use the kinds of graphics that are appropriate to the
role of the audience. For example:
CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and other senior executives are likely to
look at payback calculations, ROI charts, or gap analyses
Technical evaluators will appreciate a compliance matrix
more than any other kind of graphic. A compliance matrix
lists each requirement, shows your level of compliance with
it, and references where in the document the evaluator can
find detailed information.
The "business beneficiaries" of your solution- that is, the
people who will use it or maintain it will be most
interested in graphics showing the cycle of operation, work
flow, escalation policies for handling problems, and so
forth.
Think about graphics while you're outlining or organizing
your document, before you have written any text. Graphics
that are thrown in as an afterthought typically look like
after thoughts.
By following these tips, your documents will be more
colorful, more interesting, and will probably have more
impact.
About the Author
Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media, a leading performance-based Internet advertising
company dedicated in helping small businesses create online presence, brand recognition and online automatio. Weekly TipsWeekly Tips Newsletter
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