« Website Update | Main | Busy Busy »
September 01, 2004
Looking Good
I like my proposals to look good. In fact, I pay a lot of attention to the way my documents look. While a good-looking proposal is certainly not a stated evaluation criteria, it's my belief that you should do everything you can to influence the reviewers. A sloppy-looking document -- one that is poorly formatted or full of typos -- will not give reviewers a good impression of your company. And this impression may make them think that your project performance may be sloppy and unprofessional as well.
A good-looking proposal doesn't have to be fancy. In fact, many funders -- both government and non-government -- don't want fancy proposals because they consider them wasteful and expensive. So what you want is a document that looks professional and is easy to read. It doesn't take much to accomplish this. Here are some of the things that I focus on:
Headers and Footers: These can transform a plain document into one that is appealing to the eye. I usually put some or all of the following information in the header and/or footer: project name, organization name, date, solicitation number, page number, and restriction on use of data (government proposals only). Then I insert a horizontal line after the header and before the footer. It looks good and sets off the text of the proposal.
White Space: It's not always easy to use white space effectively, particularly if you have page limits and a lot to say. One inch margins look the best, in my opinion, but you can't always fit everything in. I also like to use more spacing before and after headings and subheadings to set them off. You can also indent things such as lists and blockquotes to create more white space.
Fonts: There's a lot you can do with fonts. Use bold, underlined or italicized headings and subheadings, and/or different or larger size fonts to draw attention to them. You can also use different, larger or smaller fonts with headers and footers, bulleted items, tables, text boxes, graphics, and the like. But be careful not to use too many font styles and sizes, because this can create confusion and a disorganized appearance. And be consistent with your use of fonts through the document.
Breaking up the Text: People can get tired and bored reading page after page of straight text. Make your proposal more interesting to read by judiciously using bulleted and numbered lists, text boxes, callouts, tables, charts, graphics, page and paragraph borders, color, and shading.
Posted by Deborah at September 1, 2004 06:02 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)E-Mail This Post to a Friend
Recommend This Site To a Friend or Colleague
