How to use Color and Graphics in your Business Proposals

Most large and small businesses have their own uniquebrand. This includes their logo, packaging or any otherkind of graphic. Writing a good business proposal oftenrequires some thought whether to use graphics and color.

Research recommends using color and graphics except forthose rare situations where the customer explicitly forbidsit. Government bids are less common than it used to be.But, they need to be used with some judgment. Throwing inclip art or colorful logos will probably do more damagethan good.

There are several factors that contribute to a goodpackage: page layout, legibility of the font, use of whitespace. But, two of the more important tools you can use arecolor and graphics.

Research indicates that using color and graphics canincrease the reader's interest, enhance retention, andimprove comprehension. In fact, the results showed thefollowing impact from color:

1. Increases comprehension up to 73% 2. Increases retentionand 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 wassponsored by Hewlett Packard. They just might have a vestedinterest in getting business people to use more colorprinters.

But the group that actually did the research was anindependent, third party, with good credibility. And thosefigures are consistent with other research done bypublishers and educators.

A study conducted by the University of Minnesota found thatthe use of simple graphics increased the persuasiveness ofa message by 47%. To measure the effect, they had a groupof people read a passage of text and rate it forpersuasiveness. Then they had another group rate the exactsame text, only this time it included a graphic. The scorejumped by 47%!

Why does this work? One factor is that some people learnmore easily through graphics than they do through words.They are right-brain oriented. Also, some people areskimmers, and graphics are more likely to slow down theskimming process so that they absorb the content. Finally,sometimes graphics, particularly those based on statisticalanalysis or other quantified data, seem to carry moreauthority than mere words: for more people a bar chartshowing the average annual temperature in three cities willbe more convincing than similar data presented only inwords.

Here are some ideas for using color and graphics to enhanceyour document:

¡è Use your customer's logo on the title page of yourproposal and balance it in terms of size and impact withyour own logo. If you know that the customer absolutelyhates having their logo used by outsiders, obviously don'tdo this. Too many proposals go out with a cover and titlepage dominated by the vendor's logo. It comes across asself centered and obnoxious.

¡è If the customer has a "company color," incorporate itinto your design. For example, using a line at the top ofthe page in their color to separate the header from bodytext, or putting major headings in their color, are subtleways of communicating to them.

¡è Avoid using clip art. It usually doesn't enhance yourdocument. It's not smart to throw something into thedocument just because it's available. Your goal is toinclude appropriate graphics that reinforce your message.

¡è Avoid highly technical graphics, complex diagrams andcharts. Simple graphics are better. They will attract moreattention and they will be easier to understand. If youmust include schematics, drawings, network diagrams, orsimilar technical visuals, consider putting them in atechnical 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 turnyour document sideways to look at your graphic.

¡è Write an active caption that not only explains what thegraphic 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 itgraphically is more effective than showing the graphic andthen discussing it. Never put all the graphics at the endof the document. If people have to flip back and forthbetween the text and the graphics, they won't get the fullvalue of either.

¡è Use the kinds of graphics that are appropriate to therole of the audience. For example:

CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and other senior executives are likely tolook at payback calculations, ROI charts, or gap analyses

Technical evaluators will appreciate a compliance matrixmore than any other kind of graphic. A compliance matrixlists each requirement, shows your level of compliance withit, and references where in the document the evaluator canfind detailed information.

The "business beneficiaries" of your solution- that is, thepeople who will use it or maintain it will be mostinterested in graphics showing the cycle of operation, workflow, escalation policies for handling problems, and soforth.

Think about graphics while you're outlining or organizingyour document, before you have written any text. Graphicsthat are thrown in as an afterthought typically look likeafter thoughts.

By following these tips, your documents will be morecolorful, more interesting, and will probably have moreimpact.