March 2025



In the competitive world of business proposals, first impressions greatly influence decision-making processes. This often occurs before anyone reads a single word of your carefully crafted content.

Professional services firms are increasingly recognising that the visual quality of their proposal documents can substantially impact their chances of success.

And it doesn’t need to cost the earth to implement these drivers of success.

The science of visual processing

Research by MIT neuroscientists has demonstrated that the human brain can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds¹. This rapid visual processing occurs significantly faster than the time required to read and comprehend text, which typically takes 200-250 milliseconds per word based on comprehensive eye-tracking studies.

Research published in the Journal of Marketing² reveal that visual elements capture attention first in documents, with detailed eye-tracking research showing that readers typically spend 2.6 seconds scanning visuals before engaging with any text content.

This research solidifies what we as designers have always known – visual design matters and it has a direct correlation to a brand’s success!

Winning proposal through credibility

The impact of design quality on perceived credibility is well-documented. Stanford University's Web Credibility Research found that 75% of users make judgements about an organisation's credibility based on visual design elements³. While this research focused on websites, the principle applies equally to proposals.

A 2018 study in the Journal of Business Communication found that professionally designed presentations were rated 32% more credible and 28% more persuasive than content-identical presentations with poor design elements.

Creating self-sufficient MS Office infrastructure

The good news is that your firm can develop a proposal framework without relying on external designers for every pitch yet still exceed visual design expectations.

Here's how:

‍MS Office Template Development

‍Invest in design-led Microsoft templates that incorporate your visual branding, while providing easy-to-use functionality, ensuring documents are turned around promptly while staying on brand.

Templates should include:

• Forethought and planning for the types of content you regularly use in pitch/proposal documents
  
• Elevated use of your visual brand identity in the template creation
• Consistent typography, colour and graphic element execution
• Design and typography principles, such as balance, repetition, text hierarchy, and slide hierarchy
• Strategic white space utilisation that improves comprehension
• A framework made up of the expected order of pages and agreed content that forms part of that specific template e.g. proposals often follow a particular order, and have starting content.

‍Build a visual asset library

‍Create a comprehensive library of pre-designed elements that your team can easily incorporate:

• Various ways to display text (that aren’t boring bullet points)
  
• Data visualisation elements, such as diagrams, graphs, charts
• Custom icons representing your key services or offerings
• Treatment of imagery with text overlays
• Infographic components for self-building data visualisation

Repeat content

‍Create a well-organised repository of your firm’s core marketing, credentials and CV content, that is then used in an easy-to-retrieve fashion.

Marketing material – Compilation of various marketing slides such as the way you talk about the firm, its services, its CSR/ESG compliance, its history or the way in which the firm engages with the community

Brand story components – Modular narrative blocks explaining your organisation's mission, vision, and values

Case study library – Compelling client success stories

Team CVs – Standardised CVs with photos, qualifications, contact information (if needed) and a brief history of the person’s expertise

‍Organisational assets – Any firm-wide diagrams that illustrate organisational or departmental structure

This will ensure consistent messaging across all communications while saving time on content that gets used repetitively.

Visual impact outcomes

Visual design elements deliver measurable impact on business outcomes and operational efficiency, as evidenced by multiple independent studies:

• The Corporate Executive Board found that visually appealing proposals increased decision-maker engagement by 40%
  
• Research by Siegel+Gale revealed that simpler, more visual presentations resulted in a 29% higher likelihood of purchase decision
• Internal studies at presentation-dependent companies showed that template standardisation reduced creation time by an average of 3.2 hours per presentation

The evidence is clear.

Even compelling proposal content cannot overcome the negative bias created by poor visual presentation.

And it doesn’t need to cost the earth to have design-level documentation.

But what is it costing you NOT to have it?



Reach out to us to discuss how we can elevate your proposal success rate.