6 Rules for proposal graphics

Review and incorporate the following guidelines and suggestions into your graphics development process.

1. Start with a complete detailed graphic (hand-sketched or computer-generated) and then begin to remove as much detail as you can without destroying the real message. This reduces the graphic to its simplest form. The extra detail can be placed in an appendix to the proposal, if appropriate.
2. Don’t try to generate finished artwork at the first pass. You might have several ideas for graphics that support the thesis sentence, but will eventually select the most appropriate one, or combination, as you develop the text.
3. Be creative. The time to experiment is before the graphic artist renders the graphic in electronic format.
4. Focus on the what, how, and why of the graphic to avoid producing meaningless graphics. Don’t deviate from the message expressed in the text.
5. Role play and look at the graphic from the evaluators’ viewpoint. Will they understand it without studying it? Remember, you aren’t going to be there to explain it to them.
6. Keep all graphics within a vertical format if possible. This aids proposal layout and text flow, and it makes the best use of available page count.

By the Lohfeld Consulting Group Team