What to include on a letterhead, and what to leave off
A letterhead has one job: to make a letter unmistakably yours and to make it easy to reply to. Everything on it should serve one of those two things.
The essentials
- Your logo, usually top left or centred, at a size that reads without dominating.
- Your trading name, spelled exactly as you trade.
- A full postal address, including the Eircode. People do still write back.
- Phone and email, and a website if you have one.
What Irish limited companies must show
If you are a company registered in Ireland, your business letters and order forms are required to carry the company's full registered name, its registered office address, its place of registration and registration number, and the names of the directors along with their nationality if it is not Irish. If the company is being wound up, that must be stated too. These sit comfortably in small type in a footer. Check the current requirements with the Companies Registration Office before you print, since the detail is theirs and not ours.
If you are registered for VAT, put the VAT number on as well. It saves a phone call every time someone needs it.
What to leave off
A list of services. Photographs. Three social media rows. A tagline in a script font. Everything you add competes with the letter itself, and the letter is the reason the page exists. If you want a second colour or a graphic element, put it as a thin band down one edge or across the foot, where it frames the text instead of interrupting it.
The practical bits people get wrong
- Leave real margins. At least 20mm on all sides, and keep the top 45mm clear of anything you would hate to see a window envelope cut across.
- Make sure it prints on your own printer. Most office printers cannot print to the edge of the sheet. A design that bleeds off the edge needs a printer, not a laser jet.
- Pick a sensible weight. 100gsm or 120gsm bond feels like a letter from a business. 80gsm feels like a photocopy.
- Match everything else. Same logo, same colours, same typeface as your business stationery, your invoices and your website.
Getting it printed
We print A4 letterheads on 120gsm bond, full colour, with the design set by our designers, quoted with the job, and a proof before anything runs. Compliment slips and envelopes to match are on the same page.
