Printing & Design Blog

A Sebastopol business person was at the Sonoma County fair and ran into a an acquaintance  from Cotati. He made a nice connection and wanted to follow up and pursue some mutual business they talked about. The classiest thing he could do would be to write a letter.  Of course using his business stationery.

It is essential to have the tool of business stationery available to further your image of a sound, established business.  When real business is being done between companies there is usually the exchange of ideas written on paper.  To help you in creating the right letterhead and envelopes for your business I have 4 do’s and don’ts:

Don’t put design over readability

This is important.  The other day we got a business card that was a full solid with small, fine type reversed out of the light blue solid color.  It looked beautiful but was not easy to read.  Sometimes a person can get caught up in a design element and focus on how well it looks and forget that the purpose of business stationery is to transmit important business information well, not just look pretty.

Don’t be afraid to try some layouts yourself

There are many programs and templates available so that just about anybody could work in the comfort of their home and come up with a letterhead design.  And I think it is a good idea to do so.  However, let a professional designer do the final polish to your design. It is much easier from a printer’s or designer’s point of view to work with somebody who has some idea of what they want.

Do consult with someone besides your mother

Just as I think it is important to work on your own ideas and designs, I think it is important to consult someone who has been professionally trained in producing letterhead and business stationery.  While what your mother or friends think is important, it is good to get the opinion of a trained eye.  Any printer or designer should be happy to talk to you for a few minutes about your ideas and design.  I know we are at Ajalon.

Do be consistent

When you are considering your logo, design, and the fonts and colors, you will want to remember that you need to have something that can work in a variety of settings.  Will your identity look well in black and white in a newspaper?  Can it easily be used in a web site?  You don’t want to build a design that only properly communicates in color or must always be one way or the other.  In this day and age of mixed media it is important to be versatile.

Despite the use of phone and email, it is necessary to make that positive  impression when you use written business stationery.  The purpose of letterhead and related items is to communicate your particular identity.  The exchange of business cards and then written communication is part of the process of sealing a business deal.  Ajalon Printing is ready to help you create the exact business stationery that expresses what you want within your budget.  Give us a call today.  Or shoot off an email to ajalon@ajalon.com.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design