Creating Lasting Impressions: What Composes an Effective Letterhead
No matter how small your organization is, you always have to create the impression suited for you. Some programs offer options for letterheads, but you don’t want to end up having the same letterhead as the person beside you. If you think you are not techy savvy enough, that’s not really a problem. What matters is that you get to make the letterhead that you think is both formal and upbeat to represent you.
What composes an effective letterhead? These are some basic elements that should not be absent in your template.
The contact details. The template should be a mini-business card for your organization. Do not miss out on any of the following: phone number, mobile number (if there is an official one for the organization), fax number, office address, email address, and the URL of your website. All the elements are key to make your organization accessible to any form of communication possible. This will make the communicative exchange easier for those you would address letters to.
An attractive logo. Nowadays, people do not pay attention to logos with complicated designs that overpower what the logo represents. The logo should be part of your organization’s profile, and most of the time a graphic designer provides for it. Putting the logo in the letterhead is as simple as inserting a jpeg file into the format. Try to adopt a creative perspective. Ask yourself, where would the logo be suited best? Usually, logos are placed in the middle of the template to make it recognizable.
The organization’s motto. If your organization has an existing motto, a tagline or phrase, this would be more effective for drafting your letterhead. Why? Because it would be representative of the nature of your organization, your goals and objectives, without running the danger of being verbose. Of course you could always elaborate on the details of your organization’s background, but it gives an extra “oomph” to your letterhead to have some ideological basis of the perspective where you are coming from. Place the motto near the logo, to avoid confusion as to what the words mean in relation to your organization.
A distinguishable divider. The text of all the details earlier mentioned should not intervene with the actual text that will be placed on the letterhead. You may use a different smaller font, or a different color for the details. Just make sure that those who would view the template would know how far the details go. Oftentimes, people use a thin line as divider, while others place all the aforementioned details in a box. Once more, be creative in deciding what divider to use.
If you complete these details, these should be enough. You may add some creative touches according to the colors or creative identity styles of your organization, but always remember that less is more. The easier to read the details are, the better. It is most important to convey the message than to be excessive in creating your letterhead. At the end of it all, what matters is that you create something that makes a lasting impression – something that would identity your organization and make it stand out.