How would you create an 'experience' with an invoice keeping ink cartridges in mind?

Question

I wanted to make receiving an invoice a little bit better by creating a bit more colorful, nice invoice instead of the regular ol' black and white monochrome typewriter font-like invoices from the past.

My business color is turquoise and so I used that color throughout my business card and my invoice. However, I've gotten the complaint a few times my invoice is ink-heavy and therefor people don't prefer to print it, although they have to.

Below is a screenshot of a 3-page default invoice of mine. A frontpage with with the primary product and the client, a second page with the products and their description & individual prices and a end page with my business information. It starts with turquoise and ends with turquoise.

I know it's ink-heavy, but how would I decrease the cost of printing my invoice, but trying to keep/create the happier experience.

Really wondering.

In my opinion, simply adjusting the turquoise to black isn't sufficient..

Answer 1

I'm not sure an invoice is the right place to create an experience. Sure, brand it, make it unique, but remember what its primary function is: to tell the client how, when, and how much to pay you. Keep in mind the client might need to scan it, copy it, print it himself.

So, to give more specific advice:

Turquoise is cool, but keep it to an accent color and make the text areas high contrast: black or dark gray on white. Make it readable and scannable.

Make the table clearer. reduce the areas between rows and the padding between cells, line everything up

The front and back pages are a bit redundant. I'd consolidate the information and the branding into a super cool turquoise header that can make your invoice stand out while letting the rest of the invoice just do its job.

Answer 2

No, you're right, adjusting the turquoise to black simply changes which cartridge runs out quickly, and the difference in cost still wouldn't be great enough to persuade anyone to print the invoice. Reversing the colours of the front and back pages (assuming you need them at all) might. Leaving out anything that isn't actually required for the invoice, like, say, the front and back pages, would be better still. As would simplifying (or significantly lightening) the large colour blocks on the actual invoice (as opposed to the unnecessary decorative elements).

Remember, you're paying for this design with somebody else's money, and they may not want to pay for your extravagance. If they do infrequent colour printing, whether laser or inkjet, this job can represent a considerable cost once you factor in not only the price of the materials used but all of the costs in the logistics chain. If you want a pretty print job for personal pride, then you might consider printing the invoice yourself and sending it physically rather than electronically.

Answer 3

This is building on David Mulders answer, and things others have said but this is something I've wanted to do for a long time and have never got round to doing.

An Interactive Digital Invoice

Having the whole invoice system online is actually a great Idea. You are almost guaranteed that the invoice is going to be received via an internet enabled device (be it a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone etc) so why not take advantage of that fact.

User Experience

It actually makes a lot of sense from a user experience point of view to give the client the ability to view, pay, query, download, and access any other after-sales services directly from the invoice you send. Getting an invoice, which is essentially a document telling you how much money you need to part with, isn't usually something look forward to. Making the invoice about more than just parting with your money will make it a much less unpleasant experience.

Each item on the invoice can be expandable to reveal more info and actions for that item. You can include any deliverables, so any print files or digital downloads can be downloaded directly from the item in the invoice. You can give quick preview images too so the client isn't forced to download the files if they aren't sure what is what. If you provide support, that can be directly accessed from the item in the invoice. You can let the client query anything on the invoice by providing an easily accessible contact form.. It completely depends on your situation but the possibilities are endless.

Payment

There are plenty of online payment systems available so of course you can include a system to pay the directly from the invoice. Making this part as easy and painless as possible will definitely keep clients happy (or at least not unhappy).

Printing

Your design, as it is, doesn't work very well as a printable invoice for the reasons others have pointed out. But as a digital invoice it makes more sense, and fits more with what people expect on digital platforms. You can easily use a CSS print stylesheet to provide a printer friendly version via a handy "Print Invoice" button. This will save your clients ink (costs) and make scanning and archiving easier (as go-junta pointed out).

Delivery

You can even send a simplified version as an HTML email that would contain all the standard invoice information and that can then link directly to the online version if they need to download/query/pay etc.

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I understand from your question that you may not have been thinking about something this complicated, but this is - in my opinion - how you 'create an experience with an invoice'.

Something like this won't be quick or easy to set up from scratch, but it should be easily automatable and will definitely be worth the effort. There are services that allow you to invoice online like this, but i'm not sure if there are any that will let you design the actual invoice and experience to this level.

I havn't got time now but I will try and mockup my ideas to explain more clearly.

Answer 4

Computers and paper are simply two different media having different requirements. The other answers suggest making the print version rule fully over the computer version. An alternative however is using a dynamic medium that can easily adapt based on its environment: The web. Using print stylesheets it's incredibly easy to have your beautiful layout for anybody who wishes to view his invoice on the computer, yet show a simpler black on white version for printing. It's really quite simple and if communicated cleanly (something along the lines "Do you need a black & white printed version? Just hit Ctrl+P and the invoice will automatically adjust") it can be a really well thought out user experience.

Answer 5

Spiral answer is smart.

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Not a good idea to use color for your invoice, and so much. It may be enjoyable for you but obviously not for your client. I can also imagine how dirty these full colored sheets are until they dry if they are printed on a standard office paper.

Turquoise is:

• Not easy to scan
• Not easy to photocopy
• Uses at least 2 cartridge of ink
• Doesn't print well on laser printers (prints gray)

Don't use a back side for your invoices if it's not necessary, keep it simple. Put all your info on one page and on the front side if possible. A lot of companies scan their invoices and upload a PDF to their accounting software; having many pages without the contact details on the main one is not very practical for them. Not only it uses more paper, it takes them more time to manage.

Even if you send an invoice by email as some suggest, all these invoices usually get printed and get archived anyway. So you are totally right when saying you want to improve its layout and its print cost!

Use black and white or at least use color only for your logo. It's also cheaper and easier to replace since color ones are often sold in packs. It's cheaper for toner too. Don't use gray, transparencies or shades; if you do, don't use a shade that is more than 10% black and use a text that is 100% black on top of it.

You will gain way more respect from your clients with a professional invoice in black and white than a 3 pages "portfolio-invoice"; don't worry about them doubting your design skills because of your invoice! In general, clients will appreciate how practical you are at this phase.

Creating an experience through invoice?

If you want to create an "experience" through your invoice, you can always raise or lower your hourly rate by $20/hr! :)

Or another very simple way to add some personality to your invoice is to use the example of Virgin Mobile and find your own formula: