Parts of a Letterhead

A letterhead is stationary that contains the name and address of a person or business. It may also contain a company logo, a personal logo or other graphic, such as a seasonal image. A letterhead is used to give written communication a professional look in formal correspondence. Colleges, for example, typically include their seals on letterheads as signs of official communication from the school.

Personal Name, Company Name or Logo

The name of the person or business sending the letter appears at the top of the letterhead, usually in the center, but some designs could have it to the left or right, or worked in with a logo graphic. Additional graphics may be added to the letterhead for decoration purposes.

Address

The address may appear at the top near the name or logo, or along the bottom of the letter in the footer. The address will contain contact methods the person or company wishes to make public, such as a mailing address, an email address, a website address, and/or a phone and a fax number.

Recipient Name, Address and Salutation

In standard business letter style, the name and address of the recipient appears at the top of the letter below the sender's information or logo. A salutation to the recipient follows to open the letter.

Date

The date of the letter may come before or after the recipient's name and address, but always comes before the salutation.

Body

The body section of letterhead follows the salutation and takes up most of the space on the page.

Closing and Signature

Below the body is the closing and signature of the sender. Some letterheads may include a graphic of the sender's signature if the letter is to be sent as a file via email or converted to PDF (Portable Document Format) for use on the Web.

Resources

• Designing Your Own Letterhead
• Creating Letterhead Templates
• Formatting a Business Letter