Development of an InDesign publication template and accompanying PowerPoint template for the European Microfinance Network (EMN)

Working language: English

1. About EMN

The European Microfinance Network (EMN) is a membership-based network promoting microfinance and inclusive entrepreneurship as tools for financial inclusion and employment across Europe. Its members include microfinance institutions, banks, business support organisations, and research bodies. As part of its work, EMN produces a range of publications aimed at members, policymakers, funders, and practitioners — among them impact assessments, evaluation and project reports, practitioner manuals, and toolkits.

2. Purpose of the assignment

EMN wishes to commission a graphic designer or design studio to develop a coherent, reusable Adobe InDesign template system for its publications. The objective is to ensure that EMN’s outputs share a consistent, professional, and accessible visual identity, and that the network’s staff can produce new publications efficiently without commissioning bespoke design for each title.

As a complementary deliverable, the assignment also covers the development of a matching Microsoft PowerPoint template to support the presentation of these publications to stakeholders, partners, and EMN members.

The successful contractor is expected to work within EMN’s existing visual identity and brand guidelines, translating them into a robust, well-structured template system.

3. Scope of work and deliverables

Deliverable 1 — InDesign publication template system

A master InDesign template, adaptable across EMN’s principal publication types (impact assessments, project reports, manuals, and toolkits), comprising:

• Cover and title-page designs, with variants able to accommodate different publication types and lengths;
• A clear, consistent typographic hierarchy (headings and sub-headings, body text, captions, callout/information boxes, pull quotes, block quotes);
• Section dividers, running headers and footers, and pagination;
• Styles for tables, figures, charts, data visualisations, and infographics;
• Handling of references, footnotes/endnotes, and bibliographies;
• Front and back matter (table of contents, executive summary, acknowledgements, imprint/colophon, and any standard funder/disclaimer pages);
• A defined colour palette and image treatment consistent with EMN’s identity, suitable for both print and digital distribution.

The template must be built with cleanly structured paragraph and character styles, object styles, and master pages, so that EMN staff who are not designers can populate and adapt it reliably. It should be delivered packaged with all fonts and linked assets, together with the native source files and a short style/usage guide explaining how to apply and extend the template.

The template must also support the production of tagged, accessible PDFs (logical reading order, alt-text fields, and appropriate structure), so that EMN’s publications meet common digital accessibility expectations.

Deliverable 2 — PowerPoint presentation template

A Microsoft PowerPoint template that mirrors the visual identity of the publication system and enables staff to present EMN’s publications to stakeholders and members. It should include master slides and a set of ready-made layouts — for example a title slide, section dividers, standard content slides, a two-column layout, data/chart slides, an image-led layout, a quotation slide, and a closing/contact slide — with editable placeholders and typography and colour consistent with the InDesign deliverable.

4. Technical specifications

• Adobe InDesign, compatible with version CC 2024
• Fonts to be licensed appropriately for EMN’s use, or open-source with permissive licensing; the contractor must supply licensing information and, where required, the fonts themselves;
• All native/editable source files to be delivered on completion;
• Full transfer of intellectual property rights in the delivered templates to EMN, with the right to adapt and reuse them without further payment;
• Deliverables provided in an organised, clearly labelled file package.

5. Required qualifications and experience

Proposals will be assessed on the contractor’s demonstrated ability to deliver this assignment. Applicants should be able to show:

• Proven experience in editorial and publication design, ideally including reports, manuals, or toolkits;
• Strong proficiency in Adobe InDesign, including the construction of reusable, style-driven template systems intended for use by non-designers;
• A portfolio of relevant work;
• Familiarity with digital accessibility requirements for documents;
• The ability to work in English;
• Experience designing for EU-funded, institutional, or non-profit organisations (an asset, not a requirement).

6. Timeline

Interim review points between contract award and final delivery will be agreed with the successful contractor at kick-off. Applicants should note that the delivery window is short and should confirm their availability accordingly.

7. Budget

The maximum budget for this assignment is €10,000. Proposals must not exceed this amount and should include a breakdown of costs, including any font licensing, and indicate whether the figure is inclusive or exclusive of VAT.

8. Application requirements

Interested applicants are invited to submit:

• A short company profile or CV;
• A PDF containing samples of comparable graphic design work, attached to the application;
• A brief statement of the proposed approach and methodology;
• A cost breakdown and an estimate of time/availability;
• Contact details and, where possible, references or examples of comparable assignments.

9. Evaluation and award criteria

Proposals will be evaluated against the following weighted criteria [adjust weightings as appropriate]:

10. Submission

Proposals should be submitted in PDF format, with the required work-sample PDF attached, to projects@european-microfinance.org by 4 September 2026, 16:00 CET. Questions regarding this call may be directed to projects@european-microfinance.org until 1 September 2026.

EMN reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to cancel this call, or not to award a contract, at any stage and without incurring any liability to applicants. Submission of a proposal does not create any obligation on the part of EMN to award a contract.