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The three most important issues affecting art work in a proposal are also the three biggest pitfalls into which many proposals fall. These three areas involve three questions:
The extreme responses to this issue are easy to spot. For a while there in the eighties, we went crazy with artwork because the new software made it readily available and easy to use. Everyone was an artist and took any opportunity available to put so-called art work into a proposal. (This may be why the Government started restricting its use.) What some of them learned was this: just because you have the equipment that doesn't mean you can or should do the job. You know you're in trouble when someone asks "How much art work should we have?" The proper question is "Would art work help this?" The simplest way to address the question of whether or not you should have any is to decide whether or not you NEED any. Art work should ONLY be used to support, illustrate, or enrich the words. It should always illuminate; it should never distract from the message. When Is Color Appropriate? Color is often an issue of time and cost rather than appropriateness. Because color pages are more costly to print and usually have to be inserted separately (by hand), they can drive up the proposal production cost. If that cost is not an issue, then the question becomes similar to that of whether to use art work in the first place. Color should ONLY be used to support, illustrate, or enrich the art. It should always illuminate; it should never distract from the basic message of the art. Color is strong, especially in a document that's primarily text. The appearance of an illustration in color stops the reader in his or her tracks. (Just flip through a book that's sprinkled with color illustrations; you're invariably drawn to them.) If you decide to use color, make sure it's warranted because it WILL reduce the comprehension of the surrounding text. (For example, a chart that shows the progress over time of a variety of techniques is much easier to follow when each of the lines is a different color.) Next page in the Magic of Winning Proposals | Proposal Manager | Proposal Coordinator | Production Staff |
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