If you want your business to feel professional and gain respect from customers and peers, investing in high-quality letterhead design is an important step. But what qualities are important to look for as you shop?

If this is your first time investing in this business expense, it may seem like an overwhelming task. But don’t worry—in this article, we’ll provide an overview of the top letterhead examples for business owners, so you can quickly and easily determine which is right for you.

What makes an effective letterhead?

While many kinds of business communications are conducted digitally these days, some are still best done the old-fashioned way. If you’re working on building a business, sending physical mail neatly branded with professional letterhead is a great way to make an impression. Here are some tips for designing effective business letterhead:

  • Include your business’ logo or core branding elements to clearly identify yourself.
  • Keep it simple––a minimalist design and strong, complementary colors can allow you to stand out without being distracting.
  • Use fonts that match or effortlessly complement your business’ style guide.
  • Experiment with the placement of text and branding elements until the overall page feels balanced. While we often associate neatly centered or justified text with professionalism, arranging things differently in your company’s letterhead can allow the documents you produce to look more balanced overall.

Check out these 7 company letterhead examples

So, what are some good letterhead examples for businesses that use the above-mentioned design tips? Here are a few samples that creatively express their branding elements and expand their iconography without drowning out the information communicated in the documents themselves.

Gainsboro Engraving Creative Letterhead from Canva

If you’re just starting your business, it’s likely you haven’t had the time or funds to commission a full branding design campaign, generating custom logos and graphics for your business. Fear not—there are still many options that will give you professional, beautiful letterhead that clearly communicates your brand identity. A template like this one from Canva would be great for a floral design business or landscape artist.

This platform allows you to choose from many other templates, or use their design elements to create something unique all on your own. Best of all? They’re fully customizable and many are free.

Simple Law Firm Letterhead Template from Venngage

This letterhead template uses simple, recognizable brand elements that could be easily substituted for your own business’ branding. Swap out colors, fonts, and logos for those that make sense for your company, and you’ve got yourself some brand-new, professional, and effective letterhead for your business.

Zion Forever Project Stationery from Tavish Calico

If you want to make a splash with your business letterhead and create something that could be translated across a number of different types of documents, developing something like this for your business could be well worth your while.

Calico uses a simple logo and text lockups that look beautiful on letterhead when painted with informational footers. It creates overall brand cohesion by echoing the same design elements on business cards, envelopes, and other print materials. Investing in a package like this would be great if you’re looking for a complete brand redesign—not just letterhead.

Finance Business Letterhead Template from Venngage

If you’re looking for business letterhead that allows you to represent a more colorful brand, while still looking clean and professional, this one from Venngage is a great option. Pulling the colors from your logo, create an abstract footer that balances and creates beautiful brand cohesion from top to bottom. Lastly, note the off-center footer—this provides important business information, but also aligns with the header and balances the page.

Branding for Chinese Restaurant from Derrick Sun

If your branding includes a wide variety of illustrations or other visual elements, you may be struggling to design something that fully represents your brand while remaining professional. If you want to include these elements without crowding your letterhead, something like this design from Derrick Sun could be a great solution. Sun tiles visual elements across the back of his letterhead design so that documents that are sent out are neat and easy to read—without losing out on an opportunity to showcase your business’ full visual identity.

Letterhead from Fleek Templates

For business owners that prefer no-frills to beautiful embellishments, something like this design will allow you to create smart, professional documents without pulling you outside your comfort zone. The minimalist layout and color palette make documents look crisp and bold, without being boring. The template showcases two different headers and footers, which provide options without overloading you with stressful design decisions.

Swap colors and information to suit your business, and your letterhead is ready to go.

Modern Accountant, Accounting Letterhead from Zazzle

Clean, simple, and bold—with a touch of industry-specific embellishment. If you’re an accountant or work with numbers in another capacity, this template allows you to create professional and attractive business letterhead without accruing the cost of branding design. You can customize your paper weight to suit your budget. Choose to include envelopes for a professional touch.

Where can I find sample business letterheads?

There are a number of platforms that provide letterhead examples for business owners to explore. Some are meant to provide inspiration for creating or commissioning designs yourself—Behance.net, for example, allows you to see a wide variety of design projects, discover artists that inspire you, or get in touch with them to commission designs of your own.

If you’re looking instead for a place to overlay your own business information onto an existing template, sites like Vistaprint and Venngage are both great options. Each platform provides a different price point, degree of customization, and functionality, so choosing the platform for you is mostly about budget and tool preference. If you’re feeling creative, exploring Canva’s templates or trying your hand at letterhead design on their platform is a great option!

Just remember to keep the above-mentioned tips in mind as you’re choosing effective business letterhead. This relatively small investment can make a big impression on your customers.

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