A sign-off sheet is not a feedback form. A feedback form collects what should change; a sign-off sheet records that somebody with the authority to decide agreed to a specific file, on a date, having been told what they were agreeing to.
It is the piece of paper — or the record — you reach for when a job comes back. Which means it is worth getting the fields right, and worth keeping short enough that it actually gets filled in.
Three versions follow: general design, print, and installed work. If you want the form that gathers change requests instead, that is our client feedback form template.
The seven fields that make a signature worth having
Everything else on a sign-off sheet is decoration.
- The exact file, named with its version.
bloom-spring-menu-v3.pdf, not "the menu". A sheet that does not name a file can be attached to any file afterwards. - What the job is. Quantity, finished size, stock or material, finish. This is the difference between approving artwork and approving a product.
- What the signer is confirming they checked. Named specifically, because unnamed checks are not performed.
- What the approval does not cover. Screen colour, material behaviour, anything awaiting a separate decision. Stated before, this is a term; stated after, it is an excuse.
- Who signed, and their authority to sign. A name and a role. On tenanted or franchised work, whether a third party still has to agree.
- The date, and ideally the time. Which round this belonged to.
- The consequence. One line saying what happens next and what a change now costs — in days as well as money.
1. General design sign-off sheet
DESIGN SIGN-OFF
Client: ...................... Job: ......................
File approved: .............................. Version: v...
Date: ............ Round: ...
I confirm I have checked and approve the above file for production:
[ ] Spelling of all names and job titles
[ ] Prices, dates and times
[ ] Phone number, web address, postal address
[ ] Legal or required text, and any logos we must carry
[ ] Every page of the document, including reverse sides
This approval covers the named file only. Changes after this point
require a new version and a new approval.
Name: .......................... Role: ....................
Signature: ..................... Date: ....................
Download as a fillable PDFor as plain text
2. Print job sign-off sheet
Adds the specification, because on print work the artwork is only half of what is being approved.
PRINT SIGN-OFF
Client: ...................... Job no: ...................
File approved: .............................. Version: v...
Specification
Quantity: .......... Finished size: ..................
Stock: ............. Pages: .... Sides: ....
Finish: ............ Special colours: ................
I confirm I have checked:
[ ] All copy — names, prices, dates, contact details
[ ] Every page, including reverse sides
[ ] Nothing important sits close to the trimmed edge
[ ] The specification above matches what I ordered
Colour: this file was approved on screen. Screen colour is a guide
rather than a match. A printed sample can be supplied on request
before production. [ ] Not required [ ] Requested
Approved for production.
Name: ...................... Role: ......................
Signature: ................. Date: ......................
Download as a fillable PDFor as plain text
Two lines earn their place. The specification block stops the argument where the artwork was right and the stock was last job's. The colour tickbox turns an assumption into a decision the customer made in writing — see proofing for print shops for why that one sentence prevents most handover disputes.
3. Installed work: signs and vehicle wraps
For anything that gets fitted rather than delivered, where the mistake arrives with a van and an installer.
INSTALLATION ARTWORK SIGN-OFF
Client: ...................... Site / vehicle: ...........
File approved: .............................. Version: v...
Specification
Finished size: .................. Material: ...........
Position: ....................... Viewing distance: ....
Vehicle make / model / year (wraps): ....................
Panels covered: .........................................
I confirm I have checked:
[ ] All copy — phone number, web address, opening hours
[ ] The finished dimensions above
[ ] The position shown on the site photo / vehicle template
[ ] That I am entitled to authorise this installation
Third-party consent (delete as appropriate)
Landlord / centre / franchise approval: obtained / not needed
Obtained from: .................. Date: ................
Not covered by this approval: colour matching on translucent or
lit material, surface condition, and anything hidden by trim,
handles or curvature that was not visible on the template.
Name: ...................... Role: ......................
Signature: ................. Date: ......................
Download as a fillable PDFor as plain text
The third-party line is the one to keep even if you cut everything else. On sign work and vehicle wraps, the person happily signing is frequently not the last person whose agreement the job needs, and that fact surfaces after installation more often than before.
Using it without turning it into theatre
One page, or it does not get read. A sign-off sheet that runs to two pages is a document people sign at the bottom without reading, which is worse than no sheet because it looks like evidence.
Send it with the proof, not after the yes. A form that arrives after approval is asking somebody to re-agree, and that is when they start having second thoughts.
Do not ask for a signature you do not need. For most commercial work a written reply naming the version is enough. Signatures add ceremony; what makes an approval defensible is that it identifies a specific file and comes from someone entitled to approve it.
File it with the job, not in an inbox. The sheet's value is that it can be found in eight months by somebody who was not there.
The digital version of the same document
Read this knowing it describes our own product.
Every field above exists because paper cannot do it automatically. Proofavo records the same facts as a by-product of the approval: the exact file and version, the person, the date and time, and a SHA-256 fingerprint proving the file has not changed since — issued as a downloadable approval record. On Professional, the customer also ticks a separate box accepting a named version of your own terms PDF, and the record states which version.
What stays yours: the specification block and the third-party question. A tool can record an agreement; it cannot know that the landlord has to see it first.
Reviewers approve from one link with no account and no password. You can watch the record being produced in the live demo.