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Tips for great letterhead design

By 11/08/2015August 20th, 2015Full Fat Blog

A beautiful letterhead design can make all the difference to the look and success of your branding. Sometimes, your letterhead will be the first interaction a potential customer has with your company while, if they have used your services or products before, it will be a chance to reinforce your brand identity. Here are some ways to make sure your letterhead is both eye-catching and memorable.

  1. Keep it simple

Remember that your letterhead isn’t the content of your message. Instead, it is part of the structure which supports your content. As such, you want to make sure that your letterhead it striking, yet simple. If you feel there’s any danger that your letterhead is competing with your content, then simplify it even further.

  1. Use the right tools

Work with the programs which suit what you want to do. It may be that you feel most comfortable with Photoshop, but you could also consider Illustrator and InDesign. Both are good options because you can easily reposition the elements of your design.

  1. Only say what you need

Think about what you want your customer to learn simply by looking at your letterhead. You will definitely want your company name, phone number, address and email address. You may also want to add your social media information, but nothing else. Keeping information to a minimum will keep your design clean and simple.

  1. Think about how many you want

Make sure you don’t print off thousands and thousands of letters. Strike a balance between it being cheaper per copy the more you print and the problems you could face if you move to a new location or change any other contact details.

  1. It should be consistent

Your letterhead should perfectly represent your brand. This isn’t just about using your company logo, but thinking about your company colours and what font your business uses.

  1. Think about texture

You don’t just have to think about how your letterhead looks. You could also consider how it feels. If you’re designing for print, there are some beautiful paper stocks available so you could make your logo stand out, quite literally.

  1. Use hierarchy in your design

This is usually done in size. Communicate the most important information first. This will usually mean your company name or logo is first and biggest, followed by your other contact details.

  1. Strike a balance

Make sure the shapes, text, indenting and margins are all in perfect balance and consider your alignment. It may be that you want to position your company logo dead central, but often the most interesting designs can be asymmetrical.

  1. Don’t forget the back (or the bottom)

If you’re sending out letters, remember your potential customer will not just be seeing the front of your paper. You could incorporate a pattern on the back which ties in with the logo on the front. Also, you don’t have to only have your company information and logo at the top. If you run a mountaineering business, for example, you could include a silhouette of mountains along the bottom in the same colour as your logo at the top.

  1. Double check

Before you send anything off to the printers check, check and check again. Your own eye may skim over mistakes, only seeing what you believe you have written, so get someone you trust to proofread your design for you.

By putting in some time, thought, effort, and incorporating some of these design tips, you should create a letterhead which will create a great first, or second, impression.