Essential tips for designing great letterheads « Back to list

A well designed, professionally printed letterhead is a must for any business. Clients, potential customers, important suppliers and potential investors or business partners will see your letterhead so it’s vital it portrays your business in the right way. It’s also a subtle marketing tool that will grow brand awareness so it’s worth putting a good deal of thought into the design.

Here are a few tips to help ensure your letterhead does its job shows your business in a positive light.

Stay on brand

While your design shouldn’t be too busy, it should accurately reflect your brand and be consistent with other marketing. It should also reflect the nature of your business. You can get creative with a quirky design if your business sells a fun product or service. Obviously, a more serious tone will be required if you’re in an area like legal or financial services. Whatever your business, remember that a clean design is better for your letterhead as it won’t take away from the content itself.

Remember the information hierarchy

If you’re starting in business it may not be immediately obvious where to put your information and logo. If you’re using window envelopes and typing the recipient’s address on the letterhead rather than on the envelope, leave space for this on the top left of your letterhead. Your own address and contact details will usually go on the top right or at the bottom of the letterhead. Try out your layout on a print-out before you send artwork to the printer.

Take care with colour

You’ll want to keep the design consistent with your brand but use colour sparingly. Large blocks of colour or too many colours rarely work well on a letterhead and can overshadow the contents of the letter.

Choose the right paper

A cheap or very thin paper will look unprofessional and make your business look tacky. Make sure you use a premium paper stock or even a luxury or textured paper. Ask your printer for samples. A well designed, professional printed letterhead on quality paper will give a great impression of your business.

Remember the legal requirements

If your business has a registered number and registered office address they must be on your letterhead along with the country in which your business is registered. If it’s a limited company make sure you add ‘Ltd’ or ‘Limited’. If you’re a charity you must include your charity number. All of this information can be in a small font at the bottom of the page so it doesn’t interfere with your design.

Professional letterheads your way with DigitalPrinting.co.uk

At DigitalPrinting.co.uk we supply professional, high-quality letterheads and matching compliment slips to our business customers. For new businesses, we offer a business start-up pack including letterheads, compliment slips and business cards. You can choose from a range of papers and weights. Get quotes, upload artwork and order online from any desktop or mobile device. You can even download artwork templates to help with your layout. To get started with your new letterheads simply visit www.DigitalPrinting.co.uk today