Use your own customised agency branding

You can apply your own customised branded templates to various types of statements, documents and correspondence generated from within the system.

You have the choice of:

• No branding - plain layout
• Use agency address and uploaded logo
• Define a header and/or footer image 
• Using headers and footers to reproduce your own letterhead
• Customised text in the footer

STEP-BY-STEP

1. Branding themes are maintained via Settings > Agency Settings > Branding. 
   
   
   
   
2. One theme can be designated as the default selection which will be the automatically selected option in the theme branding selector. You can of course choose any other active theme from the selector but if you mostly use one theme then set this as the default to save time.
   
   
   
   
3. From the branding section at Settings > Agency Settings > Branding, create a new branding theme by clicking Add Branding.
   
   
   
   
4. Give the theme an easy-to-recognise name as this is the label which will appear in the theme selection menu anywhere you can specify a choice of branding to apply. 
   
   
   
   
5. Choose your header style.
   
   
   
   You can choose a background image graphic (ideally 1240 pixels wide, and no more than 295 pixels high).
   
   
   
   Alternatively you can leave this blank (e.g. if using pre-printed letterhead paper), or let the system position the address and logo for you to achieve a simple header effect. You can choose whether you want the logo on the left and address on the right (default), or vice versa.
   
   
6. Choose your footer style.
   
   
   
   You can choose a background image graphic (ideally 1240 pixels wide, and no more than 236 pixels high). Alternatively you can leave this blank (e.g. if using pre-printed letterhead paper), or you can add your own text, e.g. for a disclaimer notice.
   
   
7. Set your page margins and offsets, explained in more detail below.
8. Set offset dimensions for the placement of the address, e.g. to fit the window in your envelopes, also explained in more detail below.

Background images are very powerful and can be used to reproduce your own letterhead.

Using your company logo

You can upload your own agency or company logo to be used on branded correspondence.

1. On the main branding page, choose Options > Upload Logo.
   
   
   
   
2. Images to upload should be in PNG or JPG format and these will automatically be resized upon upload to 310 pixels wide by 100 pixels high, so bear these dimensions and size constraints in mind when choosing a suitable logo image.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Save.
4. If you want to remove the logo, or to replace it at a later time, choose the Remove Logo option and you can then add a new logo if required. 

Choosing the brand to apply

When creating or printing any document within the system, e.g. a letter, a landlord statement, or a tenant receipt, you will be prompted which branding to apply. The system default will be automatically selected, but you can choose whichever available branding style you wish.

If you use pre-printed letterhead paper for printed documents, you can create a blank branding style with the margins and offsets defined to achieve the required positioning of content on the page and label it, for example, "Pre-printed letterhead". If you wish to apply the same branding style to electronic documents, e.g. PDF statements produced by the system for emailing to landlord or tenant, you can recreate your own letterhead.

Margins and offsets explained

Top and bottom offsets

Specify the spacing in centimetres which should be applied from the top and bottom of the page respectively.

If a background image is used for the header or footer, these offset dimensions are applied from the bottom or top edge of the image respectively.

Left and right margins

Specify the spacing in centimetres which should be applied from the left and right edges of the page respectively.

Address offsets

Specify the spacing in centimetres which should be applied to the address positioning on the page, in terms of distance from the left margin and the text immediately above and below the address.

You might need to play around with the margins and offsets a little to get the desired effects to match your print requirements or existing letterhead layouts. 

Set default branding

By default all accounts come preconfigured with a "Elevate default" brand template. You can edit this or ideally create a new branding theme, if required. 

The default branding which will be used is highlighted in the branding theme list in bold and marked with an asterisk. If you have more than one branding theme defined, you can set the default theme by editing it and checking the Use As Default selector.  

When creating a document or statement, the default branding option will be preselected for convenience, although any of the available branding options may be chosen.