Tips&tricks on using images and videos in your project proposal

Hello there lovely people! Today we will help you to learn how to (and why) use images and videos in your project proposals. Pictures communicate with people at levels that are beyond the descriptive possibilities of words and when we are asked WHY are pictures important, the answer is simple. They enhance a presentation and create a strong visual which becomes a memory trigger.

People are visual creatures. Sight is our strongest sense and while there are those who learn and remember better with the help of their other senses, all of us are responding to what we see. Visuals help us to comprehend the information and are great at illustrating concepts.

Picture superiority effect is the ability to remember what is in the picture in greater detail and hold it in your memory longer than the same information that is in the text. Pictures stay with us longer than words and that is a key piece of information you should take from this post. Your images and videos will be remembered better and longer than the text you write.

Words are important and of course they have their place in any project or presentation but images and videos are superior. It is not the same to read or hear happy child as it is to see a happy child. Too much text creates confusion in your reader and he or she will disengage and lose focus. Images and videos are your visual support to keep your reader interested longer.

When it comes to using images and videos in your project presentations, you could just as easily go wrong as you could go right and we have seen it many times. Hopefully, this post will steer you away from making some mistakes. As we have mentioned in our previous educational posts, having a good plan is important and knowing the answers to some basic questions like what is the project about, who do you want to attract, how will you use donations received etc, will assure the quality of your project and with quality comes success.

The images and videos you are using should help with answering those question. They should be the biggest aid you have in sending your message across to readers. To ensure that the reaction to your project proposal is positive, keep these things in mind...

Using visuals that are blurry, badly stretched, pixalated or badly cut will not get you the reaction you want. The same goes for images that are too small or those that are too big. If we have to scroll to see the entire image, it is probably too big.

Cartoonish characters add little to zero value to your project unless the vibe of the project is happy and playful. Whenever you have an option to use an image of a persons face or any other image like objects, plants, nature, cartoons, always choose the face. It is a part of our evolutionary biology and psychology. Trust us on this, use faces whenever you can, preferably those that are smiling.

When you format your project proposal and have images that are aligned with text, be careful that if there are people in those images, they should be looking or pointing to the text, not away from it. It is a basic human behavior to look where others are looking so if there is an image of a person looking away from the text, chances are that your readers will too. Here is a good example of what we mean:

When you first saw those images above, where did your eyes go? Now do you understand what we are talking about? The last thing we would like to say to you is that using your own images is often better than those from others but it is also important to know that even though you have original images, if they are of poor quality, using CC0 and royalty free ones is a much better idea.

Accept your limitations, we all have them and you are no different. If photography is not your strong area, there is nothing wrong in asking somebody to help you. Even if writing project proposals is not your thing, you can always learn how to do it or ask for help. We hope that these educational posts of ours will guide you to your project success and provide some beneficial material. We are always here for you and are happy to be your helpful little guides.