The three major parties have given us surprisingly different offerings in their bid to attract our votes in the general election. No, not their policies. . . . where there's a remarkable amount of consensus (plus some key differences). I'm talking more about the way they present their ideas and the design of their manifestos.

I know remarkably little about design, but even I can see that there are big differences in the look and tone of the manifesto offerings from the major parties.

The Conservatives have given us a plain blue cover with just few words inviting us to join the government. Inside the pages are full of stylish graphics mixing text and images, together with slightly bemusing graphs and catchy slogans like ‘bye bye bureaucracy'.

Then there are postcard-like profiles that don't really seem to link to anything in particular. The architecture of Glasgow's buildings may be beautiful and of significant cultural interest, but why do we need to know that 8 out of 10 of the largest insurance companies have offices in the city? Or am I missing something?

Overall, though, I think, it looks pretty smart and the design definitely has a fresh and chic feel to it.

The Conservative manifesto comes across as something of a ‘story', which I guess is what they were after. I've heard it being described as the ‘narrative of their philosophy' and, I think that description's about right. It's not awash with policies - though there are some - but there's lots and lots of narrative. Perhaps it's the ‘big story' of the ‘big society'?

And then the Lib Dems have got, some words on their cover. And some pictures inside. In fact, lots of pictures...of Nick Clegg and Vince Cable. (By contrast, the Tories have one of David Cameron and Labour not a single picture of Gordon Brown. I counted seven pictures of Nick Clegg).

I suspect that in advance of the campaign starting, the Party strategists felt their biggest challenge was to make Nick Clegg better known among the electorate. This has obviously changed since the first leaders' debate, but perhaps this now serves to focus on perhaps their greatest asset - their leaders' popularity. Nonetheless, the design of their manifesto is, at best ‘traditional' and at worst, downright boring. But it's probably ‘honest'.

The Lib Dems should be applauded for being the only one of the three major parties to actually put numbers in their manifesto. Tables of figures setting out where their savings will come from and where they will spend the money. The Lib Dems are honest in a way that neither Labour nor the Tories are in telling the public how their numbers stack up. It doesn't particularly matter, I don't think, that they are fairly unintelligible to the lay person. It's reassuring to know they're there...a bit like a nuclear deterrent perhaps (that the Lib Dems would scrap).

Labour's brightly-coloured cover image has brought comparisons with the Soviet era, with all the obvious political associations that come with that. I think it's more evocative of 1930s modernist work, but then again, what do I know? Inside, there are very few graphics and not a single picture throughout. And the images used for each chapter heading look like they've been created in powerpoint.

A bit of a ‘marmite cover' - love it or loathe it! - but at least it elicits an opinion of some description, but from thereon in, from a design point of view, it's all downhill.

Labour offers us policy. Lots and lots of policy. I guess it's a consequence of actually being in government that they've got detailed plans to present - presumably one of the advantages of having civil servants to develop plans for you. Having said this, it is pretty consistent with Gordon Brown's reputation for ‘doing detail', and so perhaps the manifesto is an embodiment of his personality?

In fact perhaps that's what we've got with all three of them. Cameron's Tories are big on style (but possibly light on substance?), the Clegg and Vince double-act from the Lib Dems are honest (but maybe a bit dull?) and Labour, under Gordon Brown, give us detailed policy (till it's coming out of our ears).