Guidelines for Effective Graphics

Whether bid graphics are generated on a computer, prepared by a technical draughtsman or simply drawn freehand, there are practical guidelines to follow:

References

• Give each figure a reference number and a brief title or caption summarizing its point. Avoid captions that state the obvious: use the opportunity to link the information in the figure to a message in your text.

• Captions should go alongside figures: do not use multiple captions that send clients on an orienteering exercise ('above far left, above left, centre left, below right...').

Content

• Make sure that what the figure shows is consistent with what is said in the text. But never repeat its detailed content in words.

• Overloading a figure with information will make its message hard to decipher. Think about legibility and impact. Take care not to cram different categories of information with competing graphic requirements on to the same base.

• Avoid figures that look undernourished. The size of a figure on the page should be in proportion to its information content.

Explanation

• If the figure contains symbols or various colours and shadings, it must have a legend explaining what they signify.

• Figures involving dimensions need a scale. Maps and site plans should show a north point.

• Graphs must have their axes labelled clearly and accurately.

• If you are using material from another source (eg government statistics, opinion surveys, study reports), indicate its origin.

Location

• Wherever possible, locate a figure next to or close to the relevant section of text. Try not to break the flow of the text with successive pages of figures.

• If you have figures such as network diagrams that may need to be read in conjunction with an entire section of the bid, consider having them printed as foldouts at the end of the section.

Legibility

• Try to avoid making the reader turn the document on its side. See if you can reduce the scale of the figure while maintaining legibility, so as to keep it upright.

• Bear in mind that figures need to remain legible if the client should want to photocopy them or transmit them by fax to another office.

• Another design point to remember is that figures should, if necessary, be suitable or adaptable for display if the client requires a presentation session (see Chapter 23).

Using photographs

• Photographs have their place in a bid if they are technically relevant and of high standard in terms of composition, print quality and visual interest. Don't forget that photographs can be cropped or enlarged: part of a dull picture can be turned into an interesting illustration if carefully selected, while image editing software will enable you to correct faults in photographs, apply special effects and transform virtually every characteristic of an image. If you are choosing photographs on the basis of contact prints or 35-mm transparencies, examine them under at least five times magnification (preferably 10 times) to verify their suitability for enlargement. Are they fuzzy at that degree of magnification? If so they will not be amenable to much enlargement.

Applying colour

• Setting information off in a separate box or panel, perhaps in a second colour and with a light shading, can be an effective means of signposting material that illustrates or comments on points being made in the bid text. The technique is commonplace in most news publications and magazines, but is seen infrequently in bids. Underlining headings and highlighting columns with a bar or rule in a second colour can give a sense of focus and authority.