Print and mail
Agency Forms and Stationery
Designing, numbering, and producing the forms and printed stock departments use at a counter or in the field.
What this covers
Agency forms and stationery is the design, numbering, and production of the printed stock a department hands across a counter or carries into the field: permit applications, inspection reports, citations, receipts, envelopes, letterhead, and business cards. The form is a data collection instrument before it is a printed page: a good layout produces records that key quickly and scan cleanly, and a poor one produces crowded handwriting, blank fields, and a correction queue in whatever system receives the data.
The buyers are departments with a counter or a crew: building and planning, public works, utilities, finance, code enforcement, police, and the court, clerk, and elections offices whose forms statute or court rule prescribes. Nearly every form is one end of a record that already lives in a permitting, billing, tax, court, or records system, tied to it by the form number and the sequential number, so the form and the system are one design problem.
Typical activities
- Field design against the system of record. Map each field to the one it fills in the receiving system: character cells for keyed or scanned entries, check boxes where a code is stored, and formats its validation accepts.
- Content review with counsel and the records officer. Authority to collect, privacy notices, the notice preceding a Social Security number request, language access statements, and appeal rights go stale, so confirm the text against the governing rule.
- Sequential numbering and range control. Set a scheme with a department prefix, reserve ranges, and record what was produced, who received it, and how voids are documented, so citations, receipts, and permits stay reconcilable.
- Multipart and carbonless sets. Decide part counts, the color and legend of each carbonless part, who keeps which copy, and whether sets are glued, crimped, or booked with a stub, then match stock and bindery to field conditions.
- Proofing and capture testing. Review a digital proof, then a sample on the specified stock: fill one out by hand, key it, and run it through the agency's scanner and index step.
- Form inventory and revision control. Catalog the form number, revision date, owning department, specification, and online equivalent, and pull superseded versions from counters and storerooms.
- Stationery and identity standards. Letterhead, envelopes with windows aligned to what the composition system actually prints, business cards, and seals, with title conventions settled for officials whose names change.
What you receive
- Production ready artwork and an editable source file for each form, with the form number and revision date on the face.
- A digital proof and a physical sample on the specified stock, with a dated record of who approved it.
- A specification per item: dimensions, stock, part count and colors, inks, bindery, numbering, packaging, and delivery points, reusable in a solicitation.
- A numbering and control record listing the ranges produced and delivered, with the procedure for documenting voids and spoilage.
- A form inventory covering each item, its owner, current revision, retention category, and online equivalent.
Considerations for public agencies
A completed form is a record. Retention periods come from a schedule issued under state records law, so settle the category with the records officer while the layout is open, confirming it against the current official source. Keep Social Security numbers, medical details, and information about minors where a copy can be redacted cleanly, or on a detachable part.
Accessibility applies first to the online version. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers state and local government programs, and the Department of Justice rule implementing it adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content and mobile applications, with compliance dates that depend on entity size. Paper is not web content, but the duty to communicate effectively means alternate formats on request; confirm current requirements with counsel.
Specifications and quantities both belong in the solicitation. Forms bought on a requirements or cooperative contract need the stock, part count, ink, numbering, packaging, proofs, and delivery points stated, or bids cannot be compared. Some states direct certain printing to a state printing operation or correctional industries, so check with purchasing. Order quantities that balance unit price against obsolescence: a fee change or a new official after an election can strand printed stock.
Accountable forms need custody, not just inventory. Numbered citations, receipts, permits, and licenses are what an auditor tests: show the chain from delivery to storeroom to issued book to employee, and how voids were recorded. Destroy obsolete numbered stock with a witnessed record, not in a recycling bin.
Some forms should stop being printed. A form that exists only to be keyed into a system is a data entry step with paper attached. The ones worth moving online are high volume and need no ink signature or in person identity check. Paper stays where crews work without connectivity, where statute requires a wet signature, where the form is sworn or witnessed, and where it is posted, as a permit is. Most departments run both, so decide which version is the official record.
Working with HQT on this
HQT works on forms as part of the system that feeds and consumes them, so the field layout, numbering scheme, capture path, and retention treatment are considered together. An engagement normally starts with an inventory of the forms a department uses now, including the unofficial ones kept in a word processor, then an assessment of which need redesign and which should become online forms.
Frequently asked questions
Who should own the artwork and source files for our forms?
The agency should own them, and the contract should say so in plain terms. Ask for an editable source file for each form, not only a print ready file, along with the fonts or a note on substitutions. Forms carry legal text and a numbering scheme that outlast any single contract, so artwork held only by a producer becomes a switching cost at renewal.
If we scan completed forms, can we destroy the paper?
That depends on your state's records law and the retention schedule issued under it. Many states allow destruction of paper after imaging when conditions on image quality, indexing, and verification are met, while records with original signatures or long retention periods are often treated differently. Settle this with your records officer before the form is designed, since it affects layout, paper, and whether a part of the set must be retained. Confirm the current rule against the official source rather than past practice.
Do accessibility requirements apply to printed forms?
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers state and local government programs, and the Department of Justice rule implementing it adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile applications, with compliance dates that depend on entity size. A printed form is not web content, but the duty to communicate effectively still means providing alternate formats and assistance on request, and any online version of the form falls squarely under the rule. Confirm the current standard, the applicable dates, and any state requirements with counsel.
Should the form be designed for scanning and recognition or for staff keying?
Decide before layout, because the two paths want different designs. Recognition favors fixed character cells, generous spacing, drop out color for the boxes, and strict formats, while keying favors a reading order that matches the data entry screen field by field. Either way, test completed samples through your own scanner and capture software before the full run, since the equipment and software you already own set the real constraints.
How do we keep control of numbered forms such as citations and receipts?
Treat each range as accountable stock rather than office supplies. Record the ranges produced and received, assign custody when a book leaves the storeroom, require that voided and spoiled forms be returned instead of discarded, and reconcile issued numbers against the records system. Obsolete numbered stock should be destroyed with a witnessed record, because a live number on a discarded form is a real exposure.