Domain 4: Proposals
Posted by Communications2 on Apr. 12, 2023 / Member Resource / Subscribe 0
Six Tips for an Effective, Easy-to-Use AEC Proposal Template
Written by Keri Hammond | MARKETLINK
Creating templates for your AEC proposals is very helpful in streamlining your pursuit efforts and is crucial for meeting deadlines. With the increasing competition in the market, an effective proposal template is a must-have.
We use Adobe InDesign to create AEC proposal templates; it is a powerful tool created specifically for desktop publishing. However, each of our tips can be translated into the program of your choice.
Here are six tips for creating an effective proposal template that will help you stand out from the crowd and win new business.
1. Get inspiration.
When designing the look for your template, take the time to research design and branding ideas both within and outside the industry.
Within the industry, we have found great success in contacting agencies that have had recent proposal selection processes. We sit down with these agencies frequently to review proposals from all different disciplines. This is a way to understand best practices and AEC industry trends.
We also find inspiration by reviewing marketing collateral outside the industry, including magazines, brochures, websites, commercials, books, and direct mail. When looking at a design, notice how your eye travels. What grabs your attention? How does design emphasize the most important points of the piece?
2. Create a coherent and easy-to-follow layout.
Choose colors, fonts, and images carefully. You need to use all these elements to create the best page layout. Remember that your goal is to allow the reader to find the most important words quickly in a way that is impactful. Create a design that looks clean and professional while providing a clear structure that brings the reader’s attention to the right place.
Remember bullets, quotes, images, words and headers are all used to draw the reader’s eye to the most important element. Put yourself in the selection committee’s shoes and observe how your eye travels around the design.
Try sketching various options on paper for each page layout. Push yourself to fill out 50 thumbnail sketches for a resume or project page layout. Create these quickly!
Ask a group of coworkers to help test your final design options. Take the time to place a previous proposal into your new design options. This will help guide you through what elements you could use to improve and enhance your new layout.
3. Create multiple options for each final template.
This is where we get to be creative! Once you narrowed down your final template design, don’t be afraid to create multiple options for each element.
Options to consider:
- In addition to one-page projects and resumes, you may need two projects or resumes on one page, depending on your RFP page restrictions.
- Depending on your printing constraints, you may need to have a full-bleed and a bordered option for each page.
- You may need more photos or fewer photos for each page.
Think through 3–5 different layout scenarios for each major element of your template and create those ahead of time so you are not caught off guard in the moment of the deadline.
4. Character and paragraph styles are your new best friend.
They may look intimidating, but character and paragraph styles will save you hours and hours of time in proposal preparation. These styles are a collection of rules that define how your text layout looks and behaves within your document. They contain formatting standards for characters (fonts, color, scale, etc.) and for paragraphs (indents, alignment hyphenations, spacing, etc.) within your document. They can save you time and simplify your work, especially when there are last-minute changes in the proposal process.
5. Use the InDesign Book feature to assemble your proposal.
InDesign’s Book feature can be handy when you have multiple files and or multiple contributors assisting with a proposal. Book feature allows you to take all the individual project pages and resumes, firm profile, and management plan sections and add them together by using their master page. Any edits made to a master page will automatically alert you that there is a change and update through the Book feature. This feature allows you to synchronize page numbers and styles. It generates an automatic table of contents, packages the entire book for print and creates a single PDF of the whole document. It’s amazing!
6. Store information on the artboard.
When creating proposal templates for our clients, we frequently create their projects pages and resumes. We organize them by individual folders, apply the template, update and write content, and save the master document.
We have found that there is always more information gathered (s.f., cost, dates, images, quotes, additional scope specific project descriptions, etc.) than we can use on our master template page. However, we do not want to lose or search for this information when we are in a rush. So, we store additional information in the artboard area of InDesign. We format the in the correct font and paragraph style. We ensure any images are the correct resolution and size for the page.
This way, when you are preparing a proposal using the template, you can easily switch the information on a given resume or project page to match your requirements. For example, if you have a page that you want to be focused on recreational elements rather than classroom spaces, you simply drag and drop the paragraph discussing the gymnasium and track features and replace the classroom photos with those of the running track and football field. So easy!
Template design is such a fun part of our innovative careers as marketing professionals in the AEC industry. But the reality is that the proposal production process does not lend itself to that creativity in every situation. We need to create a branded experience from one proposal to the next, all within a deadline-driven environment. Use a template development and design process to your advantage and let your creative juices flow.
Keri Hammond, FSMPS, CPSM, is a long-standing trailblazer in the Utah AEC industry. Clients appreciate her ability to get things done – they know she does whatever it takes, with integrity, to help them build their business. Keri is known for her leadership and diplomacy; she motivates others with positivity, trust, and unwavering support. Keri is a principal at MARKETLINK, a marketing guidance company for the AEC industry. Visit their website at marketlinkaec.com.
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