11 Bank Statement Design Tips to Communicate Better

Providing your clients with well-designed bank statements can help maintain their perception of your brand.

Clients don’t often interact with the ins-and-outs of your operations. They don’t see the ways you keep their data safe and manage their money well.

What they do see are the communications you send, and clients may judge your organization according to these communications.

The bank statement design tips in this article can help you reinforce a brand image of professionalism and attention to detail.

Let’s dive in!

1. Use Bleed to Prevent White Borders on the Edge of Your Statements

Bleed refers to extra image area that extends beyond the final trim edge of a document, and it’s used when the edge of your bank statement includes an image or any background color other than white.

Bleed is important because of the way documents are prepared before being mailed to clients.

When each document is cut to its final size, these cuts cannot be made in precisely the same positions every time. Without bleed, documents may be surrounded by an awkward-looking white border. When bleed is included, images extend to the edge of each page no matter where the cut is made.

Talk with your print provider about how much bleed to include, as this will depend on the specifications of your job.

2. Prevent Text From Getting Cut Off

Margins are borders within documents that serve as boundaries for text, images, logos, and other elements.

When designing bank statements using margins, important elements are not placed beyond these borders.

Margins, like bleed, exist to stop slight variations during the cutting process from having large effects on the client experience. If a text block or image is placed too close to the edge of the document, it may get cut off. Using margins prevents this.

3. Choose the Right Font

Each aspect of your bank statement design tells your client something about your brand’s story, and you likely want your communications to convey professionalism, reliability, and trustworthiness. Pick fonts that reflect that.

The fonts you use should be professional and make a good impression. For most banks, your branded fonts are a good choice. We’ll talk more about branded elements later in the post, but if you don’t already have a brand font or other elements of a style guide, making one is a simple way to boost your marketing and branding efforts.

If you’re looking to decide on a branded font, or just a font to use for your bank statements, this font guide explains common perceptions associated with different font styles, helping you to decide which is best for your organization. You can choose a font that emphasizes reliableness, modernity, or friendliness, depending on your brand message.

Remember to keep it consistent. Use the same font family throughout your bank statement design to keep your brand top of mind and avoid confusing your client.

4. Use the Right Color Scheme in Your Bank Statement Design

Before they even read the text of a bank statement, the colors you’ve chosen may have already made an impression on your clients. Putting consideration into the colors you use helps you cultivate an image of professionalism.

Our first color tip is to use a small color scheme of 1-3 colors. This can prevent your clients from getting overwhelmed when reading your documents.

But which colors should you use? Without getting too heavy on graphic design, here’s a basic breakdown.

For starters, this is a color wheel:

And, using this color wheel, we can identify four basic types of color combinations you can use for bank statement designs.

First, monochromatic designs use different shades of the same color. This kind of design would look exclusively at, for example, one column of blues, and choose the one second closest to the center, fourth closest to the middle, and second closest to the outside.

Next, analogous designs use colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. An analogous design might use 3 of the columns of blue and purple that sit closest to each other.

If you’re looking to stand out more with something more energetic, you can use a complementary color scheme. This involves pairing two colors on opposite sides of the wheel, such as a blue with an orange or a pink with a green.

Finally, triadic color schemes stand out to your clients. They involve choosing three colors that are the same distance from each other on the color wheel, forming an equilateral triangle. An example of this kind of color scheme could be orange, blue, and pink.

Whichever color scheme you choose, using your brand colors is never a bad option. This helps reinforce your brand messaging in the eyes of your clients. And speaking of:

5. Use Branded Elements

Wondering which fonts, colors, and other design elements to use? Looking for a way to stick out in your clients’ memories and bolster your reputation? Using branded elements in your bank statement design can solve both of these problems at once.

According to Forbes, establishing a clear brand identity has many benefits, including:

• Becoming more memorable and recognizable to customers and clients, who may be more likely to recognize your organization if they encounter you again.
• Building client trust, since most clients expect to see branded elements from an organization and may mistrust firms without branded elements.
• Helping clients feel more connected to your organization.

If you don’t already have one, it might be a good time to make a brand style guide. You can do so by defining the following elements:

• Brand mission and values.
• Brand voice and tone.
• Intended audience.
• Brand colors.
• Brand fonts.
• Brand logo and variations on the brand logo.
• Any additional visual and design elements for your team to consistently use.

Make use of the elements in this style guide when designing your bank statements. Include your logo in color or black and white, consider using your brand font and brand colors if it makes sense, and keep your brand voice in mind when writing.

6. Emphasize the Most Important Elements

In graphic design, visual hierarchy refers to presenting information in the order of its importance.

This is one of the most important principles in design. It’s what allows your clients to read and easily understand their bank statements, taking in all of the information they need in the exact right order.

Completing bank statement design with proper visual hierarchy involves understanding and working with the ways your clients naturally process visual information.

Remember that, when reading, most of your clients will start with the elements in the top left corner, read the first line from left to right, then jump down to the next line and repeat the process until they’ve reached the bottom right corner. Organize information accordingly.

Another visual hierarchy tip is to make sure your most important elements stand out in some way. For example, you could:

• Make your titles larger than other elements.
• Place important text in a box.
• Use bold fonts or a different color for the final account balance.

7. Pay Attention to Spacing

Spacing is a key bank statement design concern that isn’t always properly addressed.

Have you ever seen a PowerPoint where all of the text was bunched too close together, or the images extended too close to the edge of a slide? Do you remember how difficult it was to understand that slide deck?

White space, sometimes called negative space, refers to any area of a document where there’s no text, images, or other information.

Use ample white space in your bank statement designs. Implement proper margin settings to prevent images from getting too close to the edge of the document. In addition, make sure all of the elements in your statement are far enough apart.

8. Know What Your Document Colors Will Look Like Ahead of Time

Imagine this scenario: You’ve designed your bank statement well. It’s clear and easy to understand. White space, bleed, and margins are all properly employed. And it supports your brand image with the right fonts, logos, and brand colors.

You’re ready to print, right? Your documents come back…and the colors are much duller than you expected.

What went wrong? You likely designed your documents in RGB instead of CMYK.

RGB is the color mode used for webpages and anything designed for digital displays. It works by combining red, green, and blue light to make up each image, hence its name.

CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is the color mode that printers use during document production, and it creates images by combining cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink.

RGB often offers more vibrant colors than CMYK, but it’s impossible for commercial printers to print documents in RGB mode. Instead, documents designed in RGB must be converted to CMYK during the production process.

That’s why it’s best to work in CMYK mode from the start. This way, you’ll get a better handle of what your statements will actually look like to your clients, and you can design accordingly.

9. Use Spot Colors

We’ve just discussed how CMYK colors can be muted in comparison to RGB displays. But what if there was a way to print colors more vibrantly?

Spot colors, or Pantone colors, allow you to do exactly that. If you’re unable to print a certain color with CMYK, you may be able to using Pantones.

The downside is that spot colors are more expensive to use than CMYK. Thus, it’s often best to save spot colors for elements where the color is particularly important, such as brand logos.

10. Keep Your Clients’ Experience In Mind When Completing Bank Statement Design

Bank statements give your clients the information they need to understand their transactions and to take action. It’s important to make sure this information is explained clearly.

It’s also important to ensure that your bank statement design paints a positive impression of your organization.

One way to check that your statements are accomplishing these goals is to place yourself in your clients’ shoes when reviewing them.

Think about how easy it might be to understand the information in your statement, if you didn’t already know it. Notice which information draws your attention first and whether the statement presents details in a logical sequence.

Also consider how visually appealing your statement is, and if there are any obvious mistakes or areas where you feel overwhelmed.

11. Review Color Proofs Before Full Production

Even if you’ve followed all of these tips, you may still face issues that you don’t know about until your documents are printed.

Just like it’s important to proofread any messages you send, it’s important to go over printed proofs of your documents. That way, you can correct design or production problems early, before time and money is spent on a full run.

The best print and mail vendors will make pre-print proofs a part of their process, and will not proceed with production until you’ve had a chance to review these proofs and confirm that everything looks good.

D4 Solutions: Your Bank Statement Printing Partner

If you’re looking for an expert high-volume bank statement print and mail vendor, D4 Solutions is the right fit for the job.

Across 45 years of experience, we’ve developed an expertise in secure print and mail for organizations in highly regulated industries.

Our SOC 2 Type II audited workflows provide the data security you need, and we offer critical redundancy with our two locations in the Chicago and St. Louis areas.

D4’s dedicated print and mail team delivers customizable workflows for your specifications. We pride ourselves on accuracy, open communication, and efficiency.

Reach out now, and one of our print and mail experts will be in touch to discuss your needs.