The backward tracing scheme(BWT) of the finite element method has been extended lot the design of sheet blank in three-dimensional deformation. Originally the scheme was developed for preform design in bulk forming, and applied to several forming processes successfully. Its key concept is to trace backward from the final desirable configuration to an intermediate preform or initial blocker. A program for initial blank design in sheet forming which contains the capabilities of forward loading simulation by the finite element method and backward tracing simulation, has been developed and proved the effectiveness by applying to a square cup stamping process. In the blank design of square cup stamping, the backward tracing program can produce an optimum blank configuration which forms a sound net-shape cup product without machining after forming. For the confirmation of the analytic result derived from the backward tracing simulations as well as forward loading simulations, a series of experiment were carried out. The experiments include the first trial sheet forming process with a rectangular blank, an improved process with a modified blank preform and the final process with an optimum blank resulted from the backward tracing scheme. The experiments show that the backward tracing scheme has been implemented successfully in blank design of sheet metal forming.