How to Design & Order the Perfect Business Forms
A business form is a sheet of professional documentation meant to provide or collect important information. Business forms have spaces that are deliberately left blank so that those spaces can be filled in by an employer or employee.
Most businesses have a need for business forms, whether its to deal with new hires, record personal information, record financial records, and many other things.
Read on for examples, explanations, and details on how to order the right business forms once their design is complete:
This article only covers physical, printed forms. Digital forms follow similar concepts but have much more freedom in their structure.
If you need help designing, printing, mailing or shipping your perfect business forms, consider working with an experienced, professional print shop JH French. We have decades of experience and would be happy to help you get your project started.
How to Design Business Forms
Business forms differ from many other styles of print products for one key reason: they’re not designed with looks in mind. Forms need to be as functional and straightforward as possible, meaning aesthetics take a back seat.
But this doesn’t mean business forms don’t have to follow any rules at all. On the contrary, because they are so practical, it’s actually more important that you follow certain design principles when planning their layout.
Below are three examples that highlight key design principles you ought to follow when developing the visual layout of your business forms. There any many other types of business forms out there, we simply picked some simple examples to illustrate different points.
Example 1 - Stay Organized
Business forms are meant to effectively convey information, so it’s important that they stay as organized as possible. Keeping things neat and contained will make them easier to fill out and easier to read.
Shading can help readers notice the important details. | Source: SmallBusinessFreeForms.com
The example above uses a variety of straightforward techniques to keep the form organized:
Shaded Cells - Light shading in the date and number cells make those bits of information the first thing the eye is drawn to. It emphasizes how important it is that you don’t forget the date when filling out this form. Even though this form is blue, shading can work fine in greyscale - just don’t overdo it.
Bordered Boxes - The boxy structure of this form creates clear areas for the user to fill in the information for the receipt. It also means that if many of these forms were printed, it will encourage people to write the same information in the same area, every time.
Font Choice - This form uses capitalized headings to help distinguish sections within the form, compartmentalizing the form into three main chunks to make it easier to understand.
Try to imagine yourself filling out the form for the first time. Would it be intuitive and easy? If not, try to rework your use of shading, boxes, and font headings until it becomes clearer.
Example 2 - Edit & Clarify
In the pursuit of a clear, easy-to-use form, you ought to put a lot of effort into editing the content and clarifying the language where needed.
Editing will help your form appear professional. | Source: SmallBusinessFreeForms.com
You’ll see that the above form uses lines to show the user where to write. And for the name and address, it even includes directions below the line just in case the user isn’t sure how to format their information.
With a form like this, it’s essential that the grammar is clear and unambiguous. In fact, all forms ought to be as clear as possible, safety or legal forms in particular.
In order to increase clarity, you must proofread and edit your forms. Remove all vague language, don’t use fancy vocabulary, and try to make the questions as easy to understand as possible.
Example 3 - Make the Details Obvious
Remember that as you make your forms functional and clear, they still need to contain important information. Usually, this is information about your company or filing information, or mailing information (in case the form needs to be mailed independently after being filled out)
Don’t forget important details about your business. | Source: Template.net
You can use boxes or highlights to draw the user’s attention to important details, or you can simply place the details at the top, as in this example.
Many businesses have a series of stylistic choices they reuse throughout their documentation and branding, and on a business form, those style choices sometimes take the form of a header that contains all the necessary additional information, such as addresses or contact information.
How to Order Business Forms
Once you’ve figured out the content and design of your forms, you now need to get them printed.
It’s entirely possible to print basic forms yourself, but working with a professional company offers a much higher guarantee of quality and consistency, as well as many other quality-of-life options such as shipping and project management.
If you pass off the responsibility of printing to a professional company, you won’t have to stress about making sure everything comes out just right.
Below are three tips to keep in mind when you start researching how to order business forms through a professional printing company:
Finalize Your Budget
Whether you’re operating independently or making decisions on behalf of a larger organization, you should finalize the limits of your budget before committing to an order.
Defining your budget will allow you to maximize your spending, and help you compare options between print shops.
Some of the factors that influence the cost of a print project are:
Quality of paper used.
Specialty finishing features like foiling, creasing, stamping, laminating, or perforating.
Order volume.
If you only order ~50 items at a time, you may be paying $1-$2 per item. But if you order in the thousands, your cost per item could drop to $0.50 or less.
Mailing - If you want your items mailed to you, you will need to pay all additional shipping costs.
The easiest way to determine what costs might be involved is to call a print shop directly and ask them what to expect.
Ironing out the planning will help your order go smoothly.
Plan a Schedule
If you’re ordering business forms, you likely need them for something. Maybe it’s an upcoming event, a grand opening, or an important meeting. Regardless of the occasion, be mindful of how soon you need your items so you can plan accordingly.
Ideally, you want to order your items as soon as possible after you know what you need. Paper forms are easily placed in storage for later, and having them earlier than you need will make your life easier.
Different products take different amounts of time to print. At JH French, after your project is approved, it typically takes between 3-5 business days to complete all printing.
Contact us directly for more details.
Find the Right Print Company
After ironing out your budget and schedule, you’ll need to decide what print company to go with.
First, you should look for print companies in your area.
Second, check out the customer reviews for each print shop.
Third, compare prices and services between your options. Some print shops offer many different printing methods, or project management, or shipping services, all of which are incredibly valuable.
Fourth and last, collect a short list of the businesses you’re most interested in and contact them, either online or via a phone call. This will allow you to ask about different options and pricing directly, and should help you finalize your decision.
JH French & Co. Limited
Premium Forms, Files, and Nusiness Stationery.
Streamline your daily business process by ordering all the print products you need from JH French.
Specializing in large orders, JH French can walk you through the entire process and explain what options and techniques are best for your project.
Contact us today to learn why JH French has built such a glowing reputation with Hamilton businesses.
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