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What is Stationery?

Stationery, according to Websters Dictionary, is "paper cut to an appropriate size for writing letters, usually with matching envelopes." The word comes from its cousin "stationary," which was originally used to describe peddlers who sold goods from a fixed location, as opposed to the peddlers who travelled the countryside to sell their wares.

In the Middle Ages, these "stationary" sellers were often bookshops licensed by universities. The Company of Stationers, was founded in 1556 and the term stationery was coined in approximately 1727.

Even today, stationers sell much more than writing paper and envelopes. Pens, pencils, school supplies, maps, calendars, notebooks and hundreds of other items are considered stationery.

Blank writing paper is cut to 8.5 x 11, the standard size for letters in the United States. Customized writing paper is known as Letterhead.

Really, letterhead is simply the heading at the top of a sheet of writing paper. The term has come to mean the piece of paper itself, and not just the heading.

Letterhead is usually part of a stationery suite, along with matching #10 envelopes, business cards and mailing labels. Buckslips and larger envelopes (9 x 12 or 10 x 13) are often part of a stationery suite with note pads and presentation folders making attractive and useful additions.

In designing stationery suites, the logos, colors and fonts are usually the same or very similar. For letterhead designs, the font can be larger than for a normal business card, but the style of the font is the same. Corporate styles of plain white letterhead with black type usually carry through to the business cards and envelopes.

If you design letterhead so that the company name is vertical, choosing to orient the business cards, envelopes and mailing labels the same way.

Still Confused What Letterhead Is?

We mean this type.	Not this one ;-)