The Letterhead Design
Before planning the concept of your letterhead, you might want to look at sample letterheads of other companies or preset templates you can find on the internet, so you can have a clearer idea of how a letterhead should look like. Nonetheless, you must not, in any case, copy directly from their concept. Keep in mind that your company should have its own identity apart from others. In conceptualizing the letterhead, try to think about how your product or services differ from the rest. Once you know the personality of the company by heart, it is time for you to apply your distinct concepts on the different elements that make up the letterhead so that it will exude almost exactly the image you want to project for your company.
The first thing you have to consider is your company logo which should be the perfect representation of your product and services. You can simply play along the connotative meaning of your logo in designing the letterhead. If you still don’t have a company logo yet, you might want to ask a professional graphic artist to create one for you. The logo is a company investment because you can still reuse it for other publications and marketing purposes.
In creating a logo, the company’s personality has to be on top of your mind. Do you like to arrive formal and sophisticated? Or are you targeting the more youthful and edgy market? It depends on what you want the company to be like in the eyes of your target market. You have to choose an artwork that says a lot about this personality. It could be pictures, shapes or any design that reflects the company’s image and that would be catchy enough for your target market and business associates. You also have to put some consideration when it comes to the typeface of the company name on the logo. It is something the customers remember. Think how the “M” typeface of McDonald’s works. Same goes when it comes to the company’s official color. It is something that can make the company recognizable to customers.
As for the letterhead itself, the typeface you should use has to be limited to two. Never overuse the typeface because the design will seem too contrived. It is also a major sin to use all capital letters with the letterhead because they are more difficult to read. If you already use a certain typeface with other publications and marketing materials, you might consider using the same for the letterhead to promote consistency. Just make sure that the typeface you are using is easy to read. Not too big, but not too small as well. Of course, the company name should always be the larger type size and all the other secondary information must be printed between 9pt to 12 pt type size. The more important the information is, the larger it should arrive on paper. Also make sure that the typestyle exudes the personality of the company. If your company means serious business, you don’t want to use wacky typeface for your letterhead. Whether you opt for the standard serif and sans serif is all up to you. Just let the company’s identity show itself with your choices of design and you are good to go.