Imagine receiving two business mails in your mailbox – one wrapped in a contrasting colored envelope with funky flaps while the other is a standard No. 10 commercial envelope. Which one will enhance your mail opening experience? Check out the best tips to choose a quality letterhead design.
“Professionalism is not a label you give yourself. It’s a description you hope others will apply to you.”
David Maister
Further, as you open an envelope seal, the latter includes a standard blank paper with some text. At the same time, the former revolutionizes the ordinary by topping the page with beautiful shapes, colors, and graphics.
Which of the two is likely to break your air of nonchalance at that moment? That’s the power of a professional-looking, customer-focused letterhead! Below are 10 tips to help create a solid letterhead design for your business.
1. Simplicity Always Trumps Extravagance
The secret might lie in returning to the basics. This is mainly because the letterhead is not supposed to be showy. Extravagance may suit your website or business card, but a good letterhead example is simple and professional, where the text is the main highlight of the quality letterhead design.
Doing so in a creative yet non-distracting way can be a challenge. You will seldom go wrong with minimal, simple geometric shapes. For instance – a triangle or diamond across the page’s corner can do wonders. However, if you already have a logo, pick out a shape from there and print it across one of the corners with colors that make it easy to identify your brand.
2. The Right Software Matters
Though it is possible to design a creative letterhead using Photoshop, there are also far better tools, such as InDesign and Illustrator.
Both the tools come with such advanced typography controls (based on vectors) that you can easily draw simple yet business-appropriate letterhead examples and reposition them to create an excellent first impression.
Remember that letterheads have a bleed requirement for which you must talk to the print supplier. Plus, the artwork should be produced at 300 dpi.
3. Colors Are the Best Tips Letterhead Design
Blue has a calming effect on the mind, while yellow exudes warmth, enthusiasm, and happiness. Colors affect emotions;use them to your advantage on the letterhead.
It’s best to do so,but within boundaries. If yours is a fun startup currently in its challenger stages, perhaps acolorful letterhead design would be best. But legal and accountancy firms may not benefit from bold colors.
They can either use subtle monochrome tones or keep it all black and white to maintain professionalism. Even with colorful designs, you can play it safe by choosing curvy graphics or 3D ones with gradients and shadows. As a result, a great way to choose your letterhead design.
4. Bring Back The Vintage Appeal
Since it’s the letterhead, what could give a more appealing look than a typewritten letter? There’s a reason people still have a soft spot for all things vintage.
You can design a printed letter with the help of retro shapes, colors, and layout styles. Unless yours is a vintage store, do not go all antique. A mild reference to the 50s and 60s iswhat you’re looking for.
The secret to acing this style is the typography. Add color effects (behind the header) to further enhance the letterpress style.
5. Add a Watermark are the Best Tips Letterhead Design
Sometimes, the borders and corners occupy text space. Perhaps the text is lengthy, or you don’t want the design to feel overwhelming or too crowded.
In eithercase, adding a watermark is a fantastic solution. Without sacrificing space, you can easily add color and graphics to the letterhead example. The oldest trick in the book, there’s a right way to go about watermarks.
Keep the color tone just right—neither too dark nor too light for the quality letterhead design. A 5 to 10% tint is perfect, even if it looks too pale on the screen.
6. Cautiously Use Border Frames
A border frame tying the letterhead neatly together sounds innocent. However, the thin line between impactful and sloppy is too easily crossed, mainly because people do not account for in-house printing.
Professionally trimmed letterheads look crisp and appealing, but in-house printing may result in a wobbly border, making letterheads clumsy.
You can do two things—keep the borders minimal and thin and place them on the margin instead of the trim edge. This will prevent the letterhead from looking cramped.
7. Choose The Right Paperstock
The color and texture of the paper make your letterhead look professional and premium.
Thick and glossy paperstock gives your letterhead a luxurious look and feel. Though white is the classic option, you can work with cream or pale blue tones.
Another advantage of thicker paper is that the printing ink does not bleed through. Not to mention, the print quality is also top-notch, especially when the letterhead is printed professionally, creating a quality letterhead design.
8. Consider Audience Personalization
Personalizing the experience for your audience helps you stay professional and measured. If your client base is diverse, it’s time to look from the outside in. Meaning, instead of sticking to brand colors and graphics, adopt the letterhead example to match your client.
For instance, if the client is a legal or accounting firm, keep the letterhead monochromatic and minimalistic. If the client is an art gallery, add more personality and color to the minimalistic look.
9. Consider Using Special Effects
If you’re getting your letterhead examples printed professionally, look for any relevant special effects to add to your design.
For example, printing the reverse side of the letterhead with some solid color while over-printing a spot-UV design. This will lead to differential light reflection so that the non-UV areas appear different from the UV-spot areas.
This effect is affordable yet visually striking. Other special effects could include foil blocking, debossing, embossing, and die-cutting.
10. Consistency to Choose Letterhead Design
Business letters are not delivered in isolation. They include other elements, such as business cards and envelopes. The card is usually slipped into the envelope along with the letter.
To maintain professionalism and stay in the clients’ minds, maintain consistency across all stationery items. Inconsistency in the business world translates into untrustworthiness.
So, maintain proper consistency across all elements regarding font, color, border, and more. However, colors offer some scope in that different tones of a single color can be used, but don’t go overboard.
Bonus: Get Creative with Titles
A top-heavy header might be one of the more traditional layout styles you can choose for your letterhead, but you can update it by using a striking color or pattern as the background.
This lemon-inspired letterhead template is an excellent example of how a simple flagpole can look very modern and stylish. It’s also a great way to add a touch of style to an otherwise conservative design, making it a customizable template for sending to companies and informal employers.
If you have a logo or signature, the header at the top of the layout is the perfect place to showcase it. So if you want to create an appealing, branded look for your app, a simple, eye-catching title is a great style.
Choose Letterhead Design: Wrapping Up
Letterhead matters. Your brand’s image and reputation depend upon it. However, you can play around with the shapes, colors, fonts, alignment, etc., to find your aesthetic.
Once you do, put your stamp of approval on it and send miniature versions of your business image to clients. Maintain design uniformity and consistency throughout. Your brand will get the recognition it deserves and, with it, customers for life!
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