3 Tools to Create Visually Compelling Proposals

Browsing our social feeds and favourite websites, we’re increasingly bombarded today by delectably designed eye candy, expertly cooked up to capture and hold our attention amid the gluttonous optical feast that is the digital world.

Whilst there are a range of elements every proposal needs, the inescapable fact is that for anyone (or business) hoping to compete in this perpetually evolving visual space, aesthetics are more crucial than ever.

Whether curating a corporate Instagram feed, ducking and weaving your way into a customer’s crowded inbox, or battling it out to deliver a knockout business proposal, the digital packaging simply cannot be ignored.

In more recent times, proposal-building platforms like pxmo have been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale sales funnel, providing tools and templates to beef up and beautify important business documents. Working off pre-built headings and content sections then finishing it off with a few hand-picked images has never been easier.

But now we find ourselves in a new epidemic - one of bad stock imagery.

Figures clad in bland corporate attire, awkward poses and laboured smiles exchanged around a whiteboard or laptop screen. We’ve all seen it more than we’d care to mention in polite company.

So how can we hope to combat the masses of cheesy and outdated stock imagery? Here are 3 powerful visual tools to make your proposal shine above the rest.

1. Unsplash

Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project.

Unsplash shares only photography coming from its curated cohort of photographers. Launched in 2013 by Montreal-based entrepreneur Mikael Cho, the website connects photographers to a host of photo editors creating carefully curated, high-quality images.

With the website growing and a high number of photo submissions flooding the website, the platform employed an editorial team to select images from the Unsplash community. Although the company was acquired by Getty Images, it continues to operate as a stand-alone branch.

‘People at the beach’ to ‘3D renders’

Vital to its success is how Unsplash categorises its content. Instead of searching for ‘People having fun at the beach’, Unsplash enables more context-based queries, allowing keywords such as ‘Current Events’ and ‘3D Renders’ to be searched.

Moving from curated and refined imagery to unfiltered and raw, the Unsplash approach can be carried over into your proposal’s design. Furthermore, the rendered images can bring your design ideas to a surreal level, untouched by the traditional restraints of a camera.

How does Unsplash help elevate my proposals?

Where Unsplash excels is its ability to provide images as far as our imagination can take us. Unsplash is also conveniently and seamlessly integrated into the pxmo interface, allowing users to select and add compelling imagery without ever leaving the comfort of their proposal.

2. Pexels

Free stock photos & videos you can use everywhere.

Finding the perfect image is not always the easiest task. So what if free photos and videos were placed in a neat little package? Introducing Pexels

Founded by a pair of twins, Pexels was first established in Germany in 2014. With a vision of providing users with free stock footage and photography, the platform grew from 800 photos to an expansive library of over 3 million items.

Acquired in 2018 by the Canva design platform, Pexels prides itself on providing content that is LGBTQI+ friendly and features a multitude of content featuring people of colour.

Over 200,000 files per month and counting

Searching for imagery in your topic of choice has never been easier. By simply clicking the homepages search bar, various trending topics are displayed, making the discovery process easier than ever. Within seconds, a multitude of photos, videos and even users associated with your query are served up on a platter.

Where Pexels excels is not only the stunning video/photo content regularly being added to its database, but the ease of access. Simply plug in your keywords, click your content and hit download for a multitude of different file sizes that meet your needs.

Artist pages to solidify the style you need

Found a particular style that’s for you? Head to the artist’s page and feel free to follow, donate or search through their portfolio of original works.

How does Pexels help compliment my proposals?

Creating a visual, impactful and storytelling proposal is far easier when the visuals compliment your brand and business. With pxmo’s intuitive design toolbox, colours and styles can be easily adjusted to meet your design style and requirements.

Utilise Pexels imagery and you’re on the way to creating a memorable proposal.

3. Flaticon

Resources made by designers, for designers.

In a visually-dominated proposal world filled with directed and curated photographs, is there room for simple stickers and icons to help illustrate our narrative? Flaticon answers this question with an emphatic yes.

Providing high-quality icons and stickers to revitalise your text-heavy proposals.

With a whopping 7 million+ plus images to choose from, the platform does have a daily download limit, however this can be removed with a premium subscription. Starting in 2013, the website made particularly big headlines in 2020 by providing free premium services to those affected in public service, education and health by the global pandemic.

Icons in packaged deals ready to go

Flaticon doesn’t just stop at high-quality icons - stickers, interface buttons and animated pieces populate the database, ready for immediate download. To sweeten the deal, each icon you choose is packaged with similarly-styled designs. And in case this still doesn’t satiate your appetite for imaginative design, an editor has been added to the platform to recolour and resize existing icons.

So how do I bring Flaticon into my proposal creation mix?

Where it may not be appropriate or practical to add more rich imagery to your proposal, Flaticon bridges the game in an informative yet simplistic manner. Whether replacing bullets with icons, or creating a simple visual cues for packages or services, Flaticon has just the 2D ticket.

By utilising all three tools together in one engaging design, we can create a conducive and aesthetically pleasing masterpiece in no time.

With these fantastic copyright-free visual tools in your arsenal, coupled with the tailored industry templates provided in pxmo, you’ll be converting faster than ever and standing above your competition.

We know delivering a visually compelling proposal helps reduce your chances of getting rejected. You’ve got the tools, it's time to put them to use in the pxmo workshop! It's completely free to sign up, with a variety of tailored proposal templates ready to go across a wide range of industries. Supercharge your proposal creation process today at pxmo.com.