Chapter 10 Design

Finally, it talks about the page design of proposal. That is another way to establish your echos, since "a proposal's design signals the attitude, the competence, and the quality of people submitting the proposal or grant" (182).

Well, my problem was that I'm used to being concentrated on the design as I first started writing. I paid so much attention to the font, alignment and heading levels that I can barely keep on working on the content. However, as it says in the chapter, design goes after the content, because "even the best design will never hide a weak understanding of the current situation or a flawed plan" (182). So an additional principle for me is not to worry about the design until the content is almost done.

In the chapter, it states four principles of design, that is, balance (by using grids, pullouts, margin comments and sidebars), alignment, grouping (by using headings of different levels and borders) and consistency (by unifying headers, footers, typefaces, labeling of graphics, sequential and nosequential lists). By following those principles, you will be able to write a seemingly professional proposal. Addtionally, we have to follow the formatting requirement, if there is any.

Lastly, practice makes perfect. As the author says, "good design is not something to be learned in a day" (183). On the other hand, it is very possible to read as much good design samples as possible, in order to gain others' experience.