Current letterhead feeling dated? Or — gasp — don’t have one yet? No fear: these letterhead design ideas will inspire you to update or create yours right now.
Easier said than done, right? Nope. You could have made your very own letterhead already in less time than it takes to read this introduction.
Use one of the 33 templates included below as a starting point for your own letterhead designs and read on to find out how to make your own business letterhead design stand out.
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33 letterhead design ideas and tips
Stay true to your brand
If you remember only one thing from this article, let it be this.
I’m sure you’ve heard this advice before on every marketing blog ever, for good reason. Your letterhead needs to match more than just your colors and fonts. It also needs to match the style and feel of your brand. It needs to “gel.” It needs to “mesh.” Capiche?
For example, which business letterhead templates would fit in with a typical large, multi-national attorney group, hmm?
This classic, professional design:
Or, this funky, creative one?
Neither of these business letterhead templates is “wrong” for business. They just suit very different types of businesses and brand styles.
Try subtle details
Quiet can be bold. A small, transparent geometric background pattern can spice up a simple template.
Not a fan of an all-over background? Try one graphic element with transparency, like this small leaf addition.
Try a bold element
Wanna be boldy-bold? There’s no shortage of ways to do that.
A thick border grabs attention right away.
Try a bright colored border (if it suits your brand) for an even punchier punch
(Did you know? With a Venngage Business account, you can swap in your brand colors in a pinch with Venngage’s automated branding feature, My Brand Kit.)
A multi-color geometric shape as a header or footer makes a modern statement as well, while still fitting in with most brand styles.
A colorful sidebar can visually communicate what you do, either with icons like this template, or a photo. Our letterhead maker tool has over 40,000 icons and 3 million royalty-free stock photos built in and ready to use in your letterhead designs.
Instantly give your letterhead a creative vibe with a large multi-color graphic like this flowy, paint-inspired header.
Borrow from modern art
Letterhead lookin’ a little dull, but don’t want to add a border or a whole sidebar? Try adding some modern shape doohickeys. (Yes, that is the technical design term.)
You could add doohickeys along one side, like this template:
Or, add shapes throughout your letterhead template, like this one with a repeating square pattern.
Vary the shapes and sizes of your doohickeys. Circles, squares or hard lines, triangles, icons — oh my! This template has a happy smattering of bright, fun modern elements to set its cheerful tone.
Attention blood donation clinics, this next template is perfect for you.
Okay, this super bold template may not be every company’s style, but it definitely grabs attention. You could tone it down by making the shapes slightly transparent or use softer colors.
Whether you want a striking look like this or a more subtle artistic accent, you can easily modify this template for your needs — everything you see is 100% customizable.
Communicate with graphics
While not for every brand, illustrations can add a lot to your letterhead.
Within the editor tool, you can easily change an illustration’s color to match your brand. For many of our people illustrations, you can also choose from a wide range of skin tones, too.
This template’s icons can easily be replaced with ones that better represent your company, without having to change the layout. Easy, breezy, beautiful… letterhead.
Same goes for this one with a more minimal style. Illustrations don’t always need to be super visible or dark to add a lot to your template. Subtle colors add a sophisticated touch.
Print it on a unique paper
If you plan to professionally print your letterhead instead of using it as a Word document template, consider elements that will emphasize your paper choice.
Graphics with finer details look excellent printed with metallic inks. Watercolor-inspired illustrations like the flowers below suit thick, artistic papers like textured linen.
Our letterhead maker tool can export in high-quality, print-ready formats ready to send to your printing company for effortlessly professional results.
Use an element from your logo throughout your letterhead
So you’ve got a letterhead template with your company logo on it… but now what? Carry through one of your logo elements elsewhere to tie it all together.
This one builds on the company’s square logo and pulls that into a rectangle shape at the bottom that leads to their contact information. See how it all works together?
This template cleverly brings the logo elements into the footer with the two geometric shapes in matching colors. Consider which lines or elements you could borrow from your own logo for a similar effect.
Include a watermark
A watermark style background is easy to create and perfect for classic, business-oriented letterhead templates.
You can do this to any template. Take this business letterhead example I created:
In the letterhead maker tool, I dragged the logo from the top to the center, made it bigger, reduced the transparency and set it to be behind the text to create a watermark effect.
Use a background color
This may not be the best fit if you, or your clients, print out your letterhead. But since most letterheads have a white background, using a color can be a fun and unexpected departure from the norm.
For an even bolder take, go into dark mode with the background. It goes without saying this is best for digital letterhead uses only (unless you really enjoy refilling printer ink!)
Go half and half
Try splitting up your letterhead into two background colors. This could be either a subtle combination of two shades, or a highly contrasting pair of colors for a dramatic effect.
This works great vertically as well. Try breaking up your letterhead into two columns: one for your standard letterhead contact information, and the other for your letter content.
This template is a bold, modern two column option.
This one may be less bright, but it places your contact information front and center all the same with its orange ribbon graphics. (Reminder: you can easily change the color of any element in our editor tool.)
You don’t always need to separate your columns with different background colors, though. This template has a classic white background but separates the content with a line and an excellent use of symmetrical spacing.
This template also adopts a two-column style but retains its minimalism by separating the content only with spacing.
Add a photo background
Choose a stock photo that represents your business — we have over 3 million — or upload your own. Ensure it’s either transparent enough or dark enough so any text placed over it remains easily readable.
Use a complementary background color in the letter area for a highly custom look. Again, this is best for digital letterhead.
Try a full photo background for a bolder look.
Or, use a photo in the header to accentuate your logo or set the tone of your letterhead right away.
How do I create my own letterhead?
Not a graphic designer but want to create your own letterhead designs? No problem!
We have a full guide to making a letterhead that walks you through, step-by-step. But here’s the gist: The first step is signing up for a free Venngage account (obviously).
Then, check out our letterhead templates and click Create on the one you want to customize.
To create your own custom letterhead design, customize the template with your brand colors, fonts and logo, and change the text to match your information. Voila, a letterhead is born.
You can also add additional graphics, icons or stock photos from our extensive library, change the background color or add additional text fields in the editor tool.
Once you’re happy with how your new letterhead design looks, you can publish, export (Business or Premium accounts), share or save it.
Check out our guide on how to make a letterhead for a more detailed walkthrough of each step.
Letterhead design FAQ
What makes a well-designed letterhead?
There are many ways to style a letterhead, from the minimal to the super bold, as the templates above show. Design is subjective, so there isn’t a set of hard and fast rules you must follow to create a well-designed letterhead.
That said, there are a few best practices to keep in mind when it comes to letterhead design:
- Keep it consistent with your brand identity.
- Try to stick to one or two accent colors.
- Don’t overload your letterhead with too much text — keep it to contact info, the date, and not much else.
What are five things you should include in a letterhead?
Generally speaking, your letterhead must have these five key elements:
- Company name
- Logo
- Email (usually a generic info@ address)
- Phone number
- Website URL
Some businesses are required to list their registration or license numbers on all correspondence. If that’s you, obviously include that as well. You may choose to include additional information, such as a tagline, contact info for a specific salesperson, your street address or more.
No one will arrest you if you include all of that, except maybe the design police. If your letterhead design is looking too crowded, remove some elements to make it less overwhelming.
Inspired? Create your letterhead design today
As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Today, that means finally creating your business letterhead.
I hope by now I’ve convinced you that it’s really not scary at all, even if you’re not a graphic designer. All you have to do is:
- Browse our awesome letterhead templates.
- Choose one to customize with our easy-to-use editor tool. (Hint: check our help guides if you get stuck.)
- Start using your new letterhead right away.
So what are you waiting for? As Eleanor also said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their letterhead.” Err, something like that, anyway.
