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Overview

This category relates to custom Background Designs for forms produced with QuickBooks software (an accounting solution for small businesses). These forms include invoices, sales receipts, estimates, statements and credit memos.

QuickBooks provides a customization tool that lets users upload their own Background Design to the software. Once the Background Design is uploaded, QuickBooks software automatically adds the data grid, text, logo and data to it.

In using a custom Background Design across all their Quickbooks Forms, the customer will present a consistent look to their customers and build their brand.

Requirements

You will be creating the Background Design for forms that are printed from QuickBooks software.

DO NOT include any data, data grids, logo, title, or any text in your design because these are automatically added by the QuickBooks software.

Document Size

Please use the specifications below to create a custom Background Design for use with QuickBooks software.

All forms are 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall with .5 inch margins. The forms consist of a Header (H) area, Body (B) area, and Logo (L) area that are described below.

The Background Design will be placed as the background of the form. The text and data will be printed on top of the design, so the designs should not be so busy or dark that the information is not legible. Forms like invoices are used to generate payment, so it is very important that the data can be seen.

Generally, the 0.5" margin area can be freely used for design elements. (But keep in mind that there may be roughly 0.25" gutter along the outer edges of the paper where nothing will be printed if printer does not support printing full-bleed.)

The header (H) area generally can consist of more prominent design elements, with the understanding that logo and text can appear on top.

Logo:

QuickBooks allows users to upload their Logo (L) to the form (you do not need to add it to the design). The Logo is always positioned in the upper left corner by default. The dimension of the Logo by default does not exceed 1" x 0.75" (respecting aspect ratio).

Contact details:

Company name and contact information will be positioned to the right of the logo by default. Note: do not include any text in the design since this is added by the QuickBooks software.

Title:

The title of the form (e.g. "Invoice") is always positioned in the upper right corner by default. The title is printed by QuickBooks so you do not need to include it on your design; in fact your design will be used across all the QuickBooks forms, so the title will vary depending which form the user applies the design to.

Other data:

There will be other data printed in the header area.

The body (B) area should generally not contain a lot of design elements because this is where data is displayed. However, low-opacity design elements or patterns can be placed there, as long as full readability is maintained.

File Size

The completed file must be 8 MB or less for proper loading to QuickBooks (the user will upload your completed design to their QuickBooks program).

File Types

The final design should be uploaded as a PNG image for best results with Quickbooks. If this is a problem, other acceptable file types have been listed below.

Type	Extension	Note
PNG Image	*.png	Recommended
BMP Image	*.bmp
GIF Image	*.gif
JPEG Image	*.jpg, *.jpeg
TIFF Image	*.tif, *.tiff
WMF Image	*.wmf

Resolution

Check with the customer to see if the forms will be printed or emailed. Printed forms should be at a resolution of 100 to 150 dpi. Emailed forms should be at a resolution of 72 to 96 dpi.

Color

Colors should be converted to the CMYK printing standard to ensure that printed materials appear in the color the user expects. We do not recommend use of PMS or Spot colors since it is difficult for users to see the proper color on computer monitors/screen displays; and PMS does not print well on digital printers which are based on CMYK.