We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s as true in proposals as in any other document. Graphics can help you get across a complex set of ideas in a very compressed space. Evaluators like graphics that let help them see the points you are trying to make instead of making them work too hard to get the point on their own.

But maybe the biggest reason for using graphics in your proposal is that at least one of your competitors will use graphics in their proposal.

If you haven’t begun using graphics beyond the org chart, the project schedule or the standard photos of the buildings you have designed in the last five years, here are some things to think about:

• Readers understand graphics more quickly than they do words.
• Readers remember concrete images better than they do abstract concepts.
• Graphics lure the reader to the page.
• Graphics bring the abstract and the concrete together.
• Readers expect to see graphics in proposals.
• Graphics require less energy to understand than abstract ideas.
• Graphics help you structure and present thoughts, ideas and concepts.

Just about any sort of graphic you would put in other technical documents would work in a proposal. You need to remember, however, to make sure the graphic is relevant to the point you are making.