Letterhead Through the Years

Our company letterhead has gone through several iterations over the the last decade. I still remember the first one with the red A over the M logo.  That was maybe 1997.  If I find a copy of that one, I'll post it here.

2000 - 2005 Letterhead

 

Our early 200x logo just slightly evolved over 5 years as we added brand logos in the footer.  We used A.O. Smith's electrical motor logo rather the Water Heaters logo, even though we were much bigger into water heaters than motors.

2006 - 2008 Letterhead

 

This revision was due to a change in logo.  As part of a marketing strategy, we wanted "Water Systems" in our logo.  "Amici" as a word is obviously rather generic.  The Amici pizza shop wasn't commercialized then.  Nowadays, we get confused reactions from callers mistaking us for the pizza parlor. 

 2008 - 2009 Letterhead

A designer's rendition of our letterhead.  Minimalistic design.  Symmetry.

2010 Letterhead

This is really just a minor revision.  A line of brand logos was added to put some connection to water products.

2011 Letterhead Revisions

This year's letterhead is a major revamp.  Why another change?  The 2010's line of logo felt tacked in.  The 2008 design is elegant, but sometimes we need the company name somewhere there.

In the header are the company logo and specific company details.  To adapt the letterhead to our other branches, only the header needs to be modified.

I have had mixed reactions to the logo placement on the upper right corner.  It's definitely not common.  Nevertheless, I felt a right aligned header magnifies reader focus to the content of the letter. 

In previous iterations of this design, all the letterhead text are grayed instead of solid black to further emphasize the document content.  But printing issues have made the text too dithered and illegible.  So we settled with solid black.

The lower left box of brand logos balances the weight of the upper right header placement.  The logos are small but recognizable.  It might be an issue if you read things with a magnifying glass.  But again, I didn't want the all-too-many logos to detract reader focus.  When the reader, out of curiosity, gives attention to the small logos, she will hopefully not find it hard to distinguish the brands we represent.

The lower center box are tag lines of our products and markets, centered for the persons unfamiliar in our industry.  Our website is also put here at the bottom, to act as a portal for the recipient to get more company information.

Last but not the least, the lower right box emphasizes to the reader the national level of our business.

Shoes To Fill, Hats To Wear

Our young, resident graphic designer and marketing manager, Ms. Lorraine Cheung, has now officially left Amici Land for pastures a bit less blue.  With her departure, she has left a large void in our midst, not just because of her multidimensional duties and versatility but also her unforgettable and inspiring presence.

Through her short but significant career in Amici, M'am Lorr has shown excellent multitasking talent, versatility and discipline, and a much desired OC predilection sorely lacking in our otherwise chaotic office.  These are valuable traits in a small business as we are that we will surely miss.  Her leaving has left extra-large shoes to fill and a colorful array of hats to wear.  She has held her own managing company events, retail sales, office sales, accounts receivable, doing HR and SEC stuff, while doubling as backup to invoicing and collection.  She was also responsible for our graphic and print designs including our catalogs, brochures and other paraphernalia, exhibit and store booths, signage and modules, for making IDs and calling cards, posting cute birthday lists, and even ordering and distributing company shirts.

Despite her already tremendous help in our operations, she may be most missed because of her sunny personality and character.  She has brought color, warmth, and lots of cuteness in Amici Land, the little things she bring with her that inspire in others smiles and optimism.  She has also played the guidance counselor to a number of people here.  It is with our sense of pride and love in her that we cooked up a surprise farewell party especially customized for her last week.  It's our way of saying "Thank You" to her.


We thank her for her much valued contributions to our company.  We believe in her exemplary abilities and wish her the best of luck as she pursue her promising designing career.  We look forward to working again with her in the future for design requirements.