Letterhead Designs: Take Some Lessons from the Internet

Nowadays, it does not hurt to take some design lessons from the Internet to create your color letterheads. Since the Internet and the Web 2.0 environment is getting more and more prevalent, some letterhead printing and design practices have followed suit to match those design and art trends. In this design guide for modern letterheads, I am going to teach you some design lessons from the Internet that you can easily adapt for your custom letterheads, Let me start you off first with the fonts.

• Use Web 2.0 fonts – Fonts constantly evolve throughout the years. If you compare the text of the past to the font styles today, you will see a distinct difference between different eras. That is why the first thing you can do to update your custom letterheads and make them look more current is to adapt the new Web 2.0 fonts on the Internet. These new font styles represent the current fresh trends in typography today. Using these will really help make your letterheads look new, just like those new websites.

It is easy enough to get free web 2.0 fonts over the Internet. Just search for free web 2.0 fonts on a search engine and you should get hundreds of results. So it should not really be hassle to get and use these in your letterheads.

• Lighter, brighter colors – Another lesson that you should use for your custom letterhead design is about color. The new web 2.0 environment on the Internet is characteristically lighter and brighter with its use of colors. Gone are the drab, simple and minimalist approach to design. More and more popular websites are using brighter colors that give out more energy and excitement. Colors like bright blue, lemon yellow, lime green and bright orange are just a few examples of the color schemes adapted by these new pages.

Your custom newsletters can also take advantage of this trend and integrate these bright new color schemes. Do not worry, your letterheads won’t look amateurish with those bright colors. Since most people already equate these colors with professional and popular websites, your newsletters can also be seen as professional and popular with those same color concepts. So try to add some fresh new energy to your letterheads and use these new Web color schemes.

• Softer rounder graphics – When it comes to graphics, one lesson you should take from the Internet is the use of softer, rounder and curvier graphics. This means that your hard edges, boxes and other straight lines on your letterhead layouts must be changed to softer rounder elements. Your logos should be adjusted to look a bit rounder of course, and any text boxes should be swapped for rounded rectangles or ellipses. This helps make your custom letterhead design look a little bit smoother, sleeker and very fresh looking.

• Shadows and gleams – Beyond shapes, the new Internet environment also is using more shadows and gleam effects today. Basically the concept is to make all the text and images pop out, looking like it is gleaming in the light with subtle shadows. You should apply this same concept to your text and images for letterhead printing. Just add the blending effect of embossing and shadows which are typical for most design software. Believe me, you will see the difference and your letterheads will look very in with the times with these effects.

• Color blending and gradients – Finally, most new websites today are using special color blending techniques as well as color gradients. Nobody wants to use just one color for their backgrounds, or even for their text. By subtly and seamlessly changing colors within a design, one can make the layout look more natural, dynamic and evolving. You should apply this same design concept for your letterhead text, images and symbols.

Great! Take these lessons from the Internet to heart. Believe me, your letterheads will look really up to date and fresh with these design concepts.

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