I loved designing letterheads for any enterprise where I worked (see three here). Although most were done for the magazines I art directed, I also created two for indie film companies (with the requisite sprocket hole film clips), two for my own fledgling design studios Heller & Heller and World Domination Studios (with a drawing of Napoleon standing on a push pin), and one that—on paper, at least—cemented my union with a former wife. (For the latter, I split two high-contrast, matching head-and-shoulder photos of us down the center and seamlessly combined them to make one face.)
I eventually became a “Letter Head” and started collecting as many vintage and current letter and bill heads as I could find, with the purpose of assembling them in a book—but, Leslie Carbarga published one ahead of me (he had acquired a superb collection) and I gave the project up. In the meantime, Elaine Lustig Cohen and Ellen Lupton were compiling their enviable collection of avant garde designer examples. These are the two best, richly endowed compilations of well-designed mid- and late-century letterheads I’ve seen. I continue to get requests from fanatic collectors for a few copies of any letterheads that I use. The problem is I don’t use any.
What we’ve lost with digital production and communication is the art of printed stationery, especially those beauties with embossed, debossed or die-cut finishes and lavish or minimal typography printed on just the “right” color and weight and texture—the je ne sais quoi that signals top-notch businesses via high-quality design.
Most businesses, corporations and institutions continue to send out their statements and form letters on logo-inscribed letterheads, but I have not received a truly enticing specimen in years. What’s more, most correspondence is sent as email—and much of it is a scam. On the other hand, business cards have not suffered the same dip of quality. (I suspect that physically handing the card to the recipient has something to do with that ritual.)
Below are but a few letterheads that I’ve retained from the time before Kinko’s handled the work that was done at printing shops by trained craftspeople. Not all are great, but all are authentic.
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