In this article, we are looking at designing a printable paper ticket. This ticket is printed when an order is printed at the box office after it has been confirmed, or via a print batch. Typically, ticket printers like Bocas or Stimares are used for printing tickets at Box Offices as they are designed for standard ticket stock sizes.
Printed tickets are generally text based and print in black and white, without the use of images. Here's an example from Theatr Brycheiniog:
If you do require an image on your printed ticket, like your company logo, we'd recommend ordering your ticket stock with the branding printed onto the ticket already. It may be possible to print logos directly onto ticket stock from your ticket printer, but you would need to consult your printer guide to find out what is possible.
In the below example, the Ticketsolve logo is pre-printed onto the ticket stock we've ordered, and we've made space around it when designing our ticket template in Ticketsolve:
Building your Printed Ticket
Ticketsolve Tip
Once you start amending the ticket at the Account and Subdomain level, it will affect all live Shows. We recommend that you create a Test Show and start amending the ticket template within the individual Show settings. This means that all changes will only happen on that one test Show. Once you are happy with how it looks, you can easily copy and paste the source code into the Account or Subdomain level ticket template.
1. Go to Settings > General Settings to edit at Account level (if editing at Subdomain or Show level, find the same setting here).
2. Locate the "template data ticket" setting.
This is where you can now edit your printed ticket template.
Navigating the template editor
The below key explains what the different icons in the editor are used for.
A. The pencil icon allows you to drag a text box onto the template.
B. The image icon allows you to drag an image box onto the template.
C. The barcode icon allows you to drag a barcode/QR code box onto the template.
D. Use this button to zoom in or out.
E. Clicking the lock icon keeps the aspect ratio.
F. This allows you to set the text size within the select text element.
G. Text can be formatted to bold or italic within the select element.
H. Click the eye icon to open up a PDF preview of your template.
I. The Values are where you can select a pre-set value that you would like to appear within the text element. E.g. {{main_line_1}} brings in the name of the Show. You can also manually type text into the box to add it to the selected element.
J. The X and Y position of the select element on the template - change these to move the element around.
K. The heigh and width of the select element - change these to resize the element.
L. This is used to justify the text or value position within the selected text box, e.g. to centre it.
M. Rotation of the value within selected element.
N. Select an element then click Delete Element to remove it from the template.
Adjust the template size
You may need to adjust the size of the ticket template. The default ticket size on Ticketsolve account is 50mm high x 139mm wide.
1. Click into the ticket template so the entire ticket is outlined in red.
2. To the right of the ticket, adjust the page height and width to the correct size in millimetres.
3. Click Update to save.
Adding text to your Ticket design
1. Click on the pencil icon and drag into the template to add a new text field.
2. The Values will show you a list of all possible fields.
3. In this example we want to add the Show name which is {{main_line_1}} so we click on that.
4. Now we can:
- add extra text around the merge fields by typing it into the Values field.
- adjust the placement of the text within the box in the vertical and horizontal dropdowns.
- use the cursor, keyboard arrows and the X and Y fields to position the box where you would like it.
adjust the height width of the text box using the Height and Width boxes. It's important to make sure that the size of the text box is big enough for the text within it.
5. This is where we can change the size of text and make it bold or italic.
6. To preview a draft of the template, click on the eye icon (Preview Ticket).
7. Select Update to save.
Repeat this for all the necessary fields.
We suggest you include the following Values on your ticket design:
- {{main_line_1}} - the name of the Show
- {{event_datetime}} - the date and time of the Event
- {{venue_name}} - the name of the Venue
- {{main_line_3}} - the name of the Ticket Price
- {{main_line_4}} - the name of the customer who booked
- {{seat_section}} - {{seat_coordinates}} - {{seat_comment}}- details of the seat location and any specific comment on that seat
- {{checkin_code}} - the unique checkin code
- {{order_num}} - the order number
Don't Forget!
In order to edit an element on the template , click the desired element and make sure it's outlined in red.
Adding a QR code to your ticket design
If you are scanning tickets it's important to add a barcode / QR code to the e-ticket template. You'll want to make this large so that it's easy to scan.
1. Click on the barcode icon and hold and drag the box onto the template.
2. Use the cursor, keyboard arrows and the X and Y fields to position the box where you would like it.
3. Adjust the height width of the text box using the Height and Width boxes. It's important that the QR box is a square and a minimum of 50 (W) x 50 (H) or it won't display properly / be picked up by the scanner.
4. Go to Settings > General Settings and find the setting called "barcode format". Make sure this is set to QrCode (unless you are using barcode scanners).
Editing the Ticket Stub
There are specific values for the ticket stub and these are set up by default, the values are:
- {{stub_1}} - Show Name
- {{stub_2}} - Customer Name
- {{stub_3}} - Ticket Price
- {{stub_4}} - Adult, Child or Seat Description
These can be edited as required following the same process to add, delete or edit text elements.
Ticketsolve Tip
We recommend creating an order for your test event to see what the ticket looks like in real life. Once you put through a booking on the Test Show, go to Orders > Search Orders > find your Order > click on the three dot menu, then click on Print to print the ticket out, or Manual Print to download the ticket as a PDF to view.
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