Despite the advent of a rich world of printed, color graphics, attorney’s letterheads have always seemed the most bombastic. Medieval typeface in bold for the senior (and deceased) partners, with a list of the junior partners and firm members “of counsel” burning up column inches down one, and sometimes both sides of the page. The truly established eastern firms were capable of using up a full third of every letter’s opening page simply with letterhead copy. Fortunately, law firms seldom run out of blank letter paper.
Today, a good letterhead can say a lot about a business or a business person. The use of graphics for color logos have become a staple of business letterheads, often anchoring the upper left corner with subtle swirls or narrow geometric formations of lines and crosshatches running down the side of the page, or across the top. The business name, address and pertinent contact information may be wrapped around the logo, cross the top of the page, or be found at the bottom of page one.
Some firms like to incorporate a slogan into their letterhead. In the construction trades, light industry and household repair business segments many firms have slogans built into their letterheads, their other business forms and on the sides of their vehicles. Tech firms are not averse to slogans built into their graphic identity either, though the message often tends to be somewhat cryptic – a nod to the eternally hip essence of the digital cutting edge.
At Sassy Slogans, we feel that regardless of the industry segment, a business letterhead ought to convey a few universal traits. The first is professionalism. The logo should be crisp and should not require several seconds to decipher. If a message is included, it should be concise, speak to quality and perhaps the personal touch and should probably avoid attempts at humor.
Within those parameters, some very creative things can be done with a sheet of quality sixty or eighty pound paper and color graphics. Lightly colored stationery can be used and light half tone replications of the logo or some business related image may be repeated across the page, if done in subtle, unobtrusive fashion. Graphics software, state of the art printing equipment and the talented digital artists of today can produce logos that are both attractive and arresting, two traits that contribute greatly to a business letterhead.
The left side of the page can be used to list products or services. Half tones are often a good choice for this feature, as they are readable but do not intrude on the body of the letter itself. The lower right corner might be used for the firm’s address, phone numbers and email address as an offset to a logo in the upper right.
With the enormous amount of graphic creativity in the marketplace today, we at Sassy Slogans understand that the formerly standard designs for letterheads are only starting points. The cover page of every letter has to be able to present several opening paragraphs. With that understanding, every outlying portion of the page is fair territory for the use of graphic creativity and printed information, presented in attractive fashion. Sassy Slogans is a business built on creativity; our expectation is that each of our products deserves some unique quality. We produce originality for business identities; we can do that on a sheet of paper as well as any other format.
