19+ Letterhead Templates & Examples in Illustrator

When you’re hunting for a job or trying to grow your network of clients or collaborators, printed letters will always be the best option for catching someone’s attention and keeping them engaged. So to help you frame your message and demonstrate your creativity, refining your letterhead might be your greatest weapon.

In this article, we’ll be looking into the basic elements of a letterhead along with a few guidelines on how you can enhance your design.

Elements of a Letterhead

Here are the major elements of a good letterhead:

1. Name: The primary purpose of a letterhead is to introduce you as the sender of the document. This will make your identity known to the receiver in case they have any questions or inquiries that need to be addressed in a follow-up letter. This can be your complete name or the name of the company being represented. Your job title may also be included in a business correspondence.

2. Address: The address included in the letterhead should be accurate and updated to avoid any problems. This should be your permanent address or mailing address for the recipient to ensure that their message is sent to the right person and location if there is a need to start or reply to a correspondence.

3. Contact Information: Since we no longer live in an era where letter writing was the only means of communication, you need to be considerate enough to your audience by giving them another way to get in touch with you. Providing your phone number, email address, and fax number might come useful to recipients who want to forward their concerns to you directly, especially when dealing with something urgent.

4. Logo: For corporate letterheads, adding your company logo is a great way to promote your brand. This will help you establish credibility and gain the trust of your audience by giving them something that can be identified at a glance. That’s because a visual representation of your brand is a lot easier to recognize compared to a name or slogan.

5. Size: A letterhead only occupies a tiny portion of the page to make room for your actual message. In a stationery, the text and graphics of your letterhead are usually positioned above, below, or around the writing area. Thus, make sure that the size of your letterhead does not overpower the rest of your content. It should remain legible enough for recipients to grasp what’s written in the document, so it’s best to stick to a simple and subtle design.

How to Create a Letterhead

If you think about it, professional letterheads can make a document appear more formal and established than those without. Not only does it help emphasize your brand, but it also makes it a lot easier for recipients to identify who the letter is from. With that said, here’s a quick guide on how you can make a good letterhead for your personal or business needs:

1. Start with a template: Creating a letterhead from complete scratch might seem like a lot of work considering the limited time you have. As an efficient and time-saving alternative, you can use a ready-made template to craft your letterhead.

You can choose from a library of templates (such as those provided above) and download the design that best suits your purpose. Templates are extremely easy to customize, so you don’t have to worry about the template not meeting your exact requirements.

2. Add your own text: Templates are usually filled with placeholder text and a suggested copy that you can use or change to suit your preferences. When adding your own text, be sure to choose a font size and style that complements the tone of your message. This should be readable from a fair distance to make it easy for recipients to grasp what’s written in your letterhead without a second thought. This is especially important when it comes to writing names and numbers, which are vulnerable to being misread.

3. Customize your design: Now for the overall layout of your letterhead, perhaps you’d want to incorporate your corporate colors and other essentials that will remind recipients of your brand. In addition to your business logo, high-quality photos and original artworks may help enhance your layout, leaving recipients with a positive impression toward your brand. Make sure these elements are added strategically to your layout to avoid a cluttered design.

4. Proofread your content: Always remember to review your letterhead for any errors, especially in spelling your name and address. Adding the wrong information is something you should particularly look out for as well. Be sure to update your letterhead whenever necessary so clients and business associates aren’t directed to a dead end. Once all these changes have been applied, you can have it printed or saved for future use.

Tips for Designing a Letterhead

Everything you send out is a reflection of who you are and what you are capable of. Thus, developing a creative letterhead is something you should aim for to leave a good impression during a correspondence. Fortunately, designing a great letterhead is much easier to achieve than you think. Here you’ll find five useful tips for an eye-catching letterhead design:

Get inspired: It won’t hurt to gain inspiration from other creative letterhead designs to help you conceptualize on your own. Many companies produce stationery sets as a way of reaching out to a wider audience. If you already produce pens, mugs, and umbrellas for your clients and personnel, you can try incorporating the same design to your letterhead.
Experiment with geometric backgrounds: Using actual photos of a subject or landscape isn’t exactly the perfect fit for a formal letter. Instead, you can take a different approach with geometric shapes for your background graphics. This a new trend inspired by the digital age of communication. With the help of a design software like Adobe Illustrator, you can easily build your own geometric design with the tools available.
Adapt to your audience: Think of it as any other marketing campaign. In order to connect with your recipients, you need to take a moment to pause and consider what your audience might be expecting from you. The last thing you would want to do is to send a hipster-inspired letterhead to a legal firm. It’s important to create an appropriate letterhead design that will help you successfully relay your message.
Don’t be afraid to use color: Color psychology is something that you should definitely acknowledge. It can set the tone for how recipients view your letterhead and leave a lasting impact they’re sure to remember. For instance, bright colors such as shades of yellow and blue can make a person feel assertive and positive. It’s even better if these colors can be associated with your identity. You may also see company letterhead examples.
Seek for opinions and suggestions: Allow others to criticize your design. Gaining input from other people will open your eyes to the things you might not have noticed about your design before. Take these comments into account, apply the necessary adjustments, and your letterhead will be ready for printing.

Types of Letterheads

Letterheads typically vary depending on the purpose and content of your letter. Though creativity has no boundaries in the world of design, companies often follow four basic letterhead formats in business communication. These are as follows:

Standard Letterhead: These letterheads are often used for an administrative or service-oriented function. It normally includes the name, address, and logo or watermark of the company which is incorporated into a default letter, a notice, or an invoice that is addressed to a general audience. You may also see formal letterhead examples.
Specialized Letterhead: Unlike the previous type, a specialized letterhead comes from a specific department of the organization. The audience may possess a level of interest in the area from which they are receiving communications. In addition to your company name, address, and logo, the letterhead should also contain basic information regarding the specialty department.
Custom Letterhead: A custom letterhead is commonly used for interoffice communications, such as memos and presentations, and external communications from one specific person. Think of it as a personal letterhead that professionals use to communicate with business associates and clients. Since interaction between the two parties is more personal and direct, the letterhead should also include the sender’s name and contact details for identification.
Executive Letterhead: As the name implies, this letterhead is specially reserved for business personnel who are of a higher level of authority in the company. These letterheads are quite common in termination letters, offer letters, and the like. While an executive letterhead is structured much like a custom letterhead, the sender’s title may be highlighted with a bolder or larger font for emphasis.

Letterhead FAQs

What does a business letterhead look like?

A business letterhead is usually positioned at the very top of the page. It is often used by companies to print documents and letters when corresponding with customers, investors, media, and other business associates. Some are made simple and formal, while others are designed creatively with the help of various graphic elements to help draw attention and develop recognition.

What are the contents of a letterhead?

Letterheads are often added to help identify a brand. They feature distinctive components that lead recipients to the company as opposed to its competitors. But for it be helpful, it must contain your contact information, business logo, and company tagline. This will help an audience distinguish your brand from the rest.

What are the benefits of using a letterhead?

Using a letterhead offers a wide range of benefits for entities that use them. It gives your business a sense of credibility to show clients and business associates that you’re a company worth trusting. This also allows you to introduce your brand to customers through your name, logo, corporate colors, and contact details. By building brand recognition, you can efficiently advertise your goods and services and stand out from the competition.

Take the time to work on your design. A good letterhead should cater your every need and stay cohesive with all your other company materials. And with the templates and techniques provided in this article, you’re sure to create the perfect letterhead in no time!

19+ Letterhead Templates & Examples in Illustrator

Table of Contents:

Elements of a Letterhead

19+ Letterhead Templates

How to Create a Letterhead

Types of Letterheads

Elements of a Letterhead