Perfect Stationery in Fifteen Minutes

Using print software, it’s easy to put together professional-looking stationery for personal or business use. The right stationery can make your correspondence look more professional and organized, and even make a letter more inviting to read. Custom stationery—a quick job using print software—can add your unique style to any letter, business or personal.

Personal Stationery and Envelopes

First, choose your blank stationery paper. Don’t go wild; if you are planning a colorful letterhead, you’ll do best with plain paper. White, beige or light colors work best. And unless your image is abstract, don’t use parchment prints that have variegated hue—pick a solid color, with little or no hue variation.

Keep the exact size of your stationery in the top of your mind as you design your letterhead. You’ll want a perfect match. Quality print software allows you to choose the size of your paper and will automatically size the letterhead for you.

Next, you must decide what your letterhead will contain. Your name, address, phone number and email address are a good start. A small clipart image (like those popular on address labels) makes the perfect addition to personalize a return-address letterhead.

Or, let your personality take over and leave your address data for the corner of the envelope. Pick your favorite graphic image, shrink it, then tile across the top of the page or stretch the image for a long and lean (or short and wide) look.

Better yet, use photos of the family or your pets for your letterhead. Nothing gets more personal than that. For a light, unassuming photo image letterhead, use the print software editing tools to lighten the image or convert it to your favorite color scheme to match your favorite color paper.

The classiest envelopes match your stationery and have your addressee’s name printed in place, and yours neatly.

Business Stationery and Envelopes

If you’re making stationery for a business, use your company or product logo in place of the clipart image. Just scan the logo in if you don’t have an electronic file already. If you don’t have a computer scanner, most print shops can scan your logo to a computer disk for a small fee.

Paper and Ink

With print software, printing business cards from a home inkjet or laser printer is easy. Most print software programs will walk you through the process, from design to printing. If you want to do fancier cards or print in bulk, visit a brick-and-mortar or printing shop.

Your business letterhead should be unassuming and not take up much space, so be stingy when you design it. Print out several alternatives and ask a few friends which look delivers your business message best.

Once you have your letterhead finished, move on to envelopes. You have two options: preprinted envelopes or address labels. Preprinted envelopes have the advantage of looking complete without a label, and you can coordinate paper colors and styles with your letterhead.

Address labels, however, give you more flexibility since you can attach them to any size envelope. Many businesses use both—preprinted standard envelopes for letters, and address labels for large envelopes and packages.

Printing Your Stationery

A color laser printer is ideal for perfect stationery printing, but few can afford this luxury. A less expensive alternative is a color inkjet printer. If you don’t have a color printer, consider a used printer or new printer that’s an older model on sale. Refilling your own ink saves money, too, and is less expensive than paying a professional printer to produce your stationery—particularly if you only want small quantities.

Stamp, Seal and Send

Making custom stationery isn’t difficult. Print software does the hard part for you—making sure the text is in the right place, sizing your image, giving you the flexibility to trim and edit, allowing you to add text and more. Within minutes, you’ll be ready to start writing to clients, friends and family on picture-perfect stationery.