The first known use of the term “letterhead” took place earlier than you might think, back in 1841. Centuries later, the letterhead still plays a key role in helping businesses make their mark.
The question is: What makes a professional letterhead design truly memorable, and what are the essential elements to include?
In this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know to create a letterhead that you’ll be proud to use. You’ll learn what components go into a good letterhead, see some examples to inspire your own creations, then find out how to create your own letterhead with Create‘s easy-to-use design tools.
What Is a Professional Letterhead?
A professional letterhead traditionally appears at the top of all official documents. It often includes important information like the company’s name, address, phone number, website, and logo.
The most critical thing to know about a professional letterhead is that it plays a key role in helping you establish your visual identity.
Before you begin designing your letterhead, you should know what colors, fonts, and graphics are at the core of your brand. This way, you can create an asset that feels like it fits within the context of the ecosystem that you’re working to build.
How Do You Use a Professional Letterhead?
Beyond working as an asset that gives you credibility as a business or organization, a letterhead is also convenient for your recipients.
Having your information in one place across all documents makes it easy for people to know how to reach out to you. It also makes the communication you send stand out from piles of other types of mail.
Letterheads for Businesses
Now that you know the basics of professional letterhead design, how do you create one that’s on-brand for you?
Here are some ideas for companies:
Restaurants
Including your address and logo on a letterhead is particularly helpful for restaurants and food vendors who rely on foot traffic to get their product out into the world.
Choose colors and design elements that match your brick and mortar location to create a cohesive experience.
Legal Firms
Keep things simple with a clean letterhead that features the name of your firm and your logo.
You may also choose to customize letterheads for different employees at your firm so that clients will always know who they’re communicating with.
Banks
Solidify your corporate identity by choosing a letterhead design that features core branding concepts that you can apply across multiple assets.
Construction
Coming up with a letterhead concept doesn’t have to create complexity or confusion.
Allow key information and visuals to stand out by ensuring that there’s plenty of white space and by choosing modern geometric elements.
Letterheads for Organizations
Letterheads are particularly valuable on any document where you want to build trust, like an official announcement of a new offering or a donation request.
Take a look at these ideas for those that are outside of the traditional business world.
Schools
Keep in touch with parents and students on documents that show spirit. Consider adding your school’s mascot to your letterhead to capture more attention when you send out memos.
This will make it easy for anyone associated with the school and the area it serves to identify the sender.
Charities
It’s true that your letterhead is an important part of any professional document, but it isn’t always meant to be the star of the show.
Design your letterhead with a simple logo and tagline combination to keep the focus on the message you want to convey.
Churches
Keep everyone in your faith community in the loop with an easy-to-read letterhead that includes address information and important contact details for a leader of your group.
How to Make a Professional Letterhead with Create
We know that creating any branded asset for your business can be intimidating. The good news? You can take a DIY approach to your professional letterhead design without sacrificing quality, thanks to Create.
- First, open Create and click File > Create new > Templates.
- Search “letterhead” in the Templates sidebar. Browse through the available options and select your favorite template to preview in the tool.
- Customize the letterhead with the fonts, graphics, and effects.
- Optional: Take your stationary design to the next level by customizing other sections of the page, such as the background and footer.
- Click Download on the top toolbar to export your design as a JPG, PNG, or PDF.
Prefer to start from scratch? Just click File > Create New > Blank Canvas. This will allow you to type your own dimensions into the boxes in the top-right corner of the blank canvas screen.
Then click Make it!
You have the knowledge you need to elevate communications on behalf of your company or organization. It’s time to make the right impression every time you communicate with professional contacts.
Use letterhead design templates from Create to craft an asset that you can use on all your documents for years to come.
Find additional tips and inspiration for creating a stellar letterhead in these articles:
- Build a Quick Letterhead from Scratch
- Letterhead Design: Everything You Need to Make Eye-Catching Letterheads
- Make the Right Impression with Custom Personal Letterheads
License this cover image via Shutterstock Letterhead Template, Shutterstock Letterhead Template, Gabriela Simon, and Davizro Photography.
