Description
It is impossible to imagine modern sales and marketing without visual elements—and proposals are no different. Graphics serve as one of the most important proposal persuasion elements.
In addition to brainstorming on a graphic idea, this course also shows you how to design an action caption, sketch a graphic concept, determine how to deliver a specific visual message to the Government customer, and use professional graphic design principles and resources to make your proposal graphics look attractive.
Professional proposal graphics artists are not the only ones who need to learn how to conceptualize and design persuasive proposal graphics. It also happens to be an indispensable skill for capture managers, proposal managers, and proposal writers.
Desktop publishers and even editors will benefit greatly from this proposal graphics training, expanding their professional range and earning potential. This course will also help those who in the small Government contracting businesses who not have the luxury of working with a professional graphic artist and have to design graphics on their own.
This course is 40 percent lecture, 50 percent practice, and 10 percent discussion. You will learn the entire process of creating visuals for your solution, from managing the graphics process to conceptualizing and designing large, graphics-intensive items like cover pages and spines.
The experts who teach our Government business development, capture and proposal training are highly experienced currently practicing proposal professionals whose years of successful experience in Government acquisition and training allow them to offer valuable insights to our students. Our instructors can answer tough questions as they come up during the course. They can also tailor the material to their students’ specific challenges, and share their experience based on the most current realities. Check our instructor’s bios on our About Us page.
Course Curriculum
Learning Objectives
- Choosing the right type of visual to represent your information
- Planning space for graphics and visuals in the document
- Allocating resources to account for graphic conceptualization, creation, and rendering
- Conceptualizing infographics and customer-centric representations of your solution
- Using basic design principles to create attractive graphics
- Finding and using graphics templates and stock art
- Developing powerful action captions to increase persuasiveness of the graphics
- Creating large, graphic-intensive proposal elements such as covers and spines
- Editing graphics to ensure a professional finish
- Inserting and calling out a graphic in the proposal.
Highlights
Module 1: Introduction
- Introductions and learning objectives
- Introduction to graphics and their importance in a proposal
Module 2: Preparing for Graphics Development
- Types of visuals in the proposal
- Ideal proportion of graphics and text
- Resource planning for graphics development
- Graphics management process in a large, graphics-intensive proposal
- Rules and free resources for setting up a customer-centric graphics template and palette
- Establishing graphics sizes and mockups
Exercise: Select a graphics template and palette for the proposal.
Module 3: Easy Principles of Graphics Conceptualization
- Three steps to conceptualizing graphics
- Unlocking the creative process
- Sources of inspiration and ideas
- Types of graphic representation, including an infographic representing your entire solution
- Developing customer-focused, persuasive action captions
- Determining the purpose for the graphic
Exercise: Apply three steps to conceptualize a graphic and its action caption.
Module 4: Designing the Graphics
- Seven cardinal graphics rules
- Four design methods for creating graphics
- Sources of graphics templates and stock art
- How to select and apply graphics templates and stock art to ensure professional results
- Graphics tools and their capabilities and benefits
- Using PowerPoint and other commonly available tools to render professional graphics
- Basic design techniques and shortcuts in PowerPoint
Exercise: Create the first draft of the conceptualized graphic using the available resources.
Module 5: Finishing Touches
- Design principles such as alignment, proportion, and balance
- Editing your graphics to create a professional look and feel
- Designing vignettes, pull-quotes, focus boxes, tables, and other visuals
Exercise: Apply finishing touches to a graphic.
Module 6: Creating Covers and Spines
- Setting up covers
- Preparing cover text
- Selecting photos and images for covers
- Designing spines
- Designing CD covers
- Printing and applying CD covers
Exercise: Design a proposal cover.
Module 7: Graphics in the Proposal Document
- Preparing the graphics for insertion in the proposal
- Graphics file types and sizes
- Placing graphics on the page
- Rules for referencing graphics in the proposal
Exercise: Insert a graphic and its action caption in the proposal.
