Using the Logo

Stationery From Office Printers

word-processing templates for letterhead, memos and faxes

Some business materials, such as memo paper, fax cover sheets and some letterhead, will not need to be printed in color by a professional printing company. In these cases, you will want to be able to use your office printer to output your material. The word-processing templates offered here allow you to do just that.

Important: Do not attempt to print the logo in color on an office color printer. The quality will not be high enough and the colors will not be accurate. If you want your materials to feature a color logo, have the material produced by a commercial printing company.

Very Important Information

The Smithsonian visual identity program involves not only the logos and their Lock-ups but also guides the design, or look, of all business materials. So that every office can use the design of the three pieces of stationery most often produced on office printers—letterhead, memo and fax—they are offered here in word-processing templates. These templates have been designed to incorporate not only the logos but also the guidelines for the entire document.

If you have preprinted letterhead stationery (i.e., you ordered from a commercial printing company stationery that has your logo Lock-up printed at the top and your address at the bottom) use the letterhead word-processing template to adhere to the design of the body of the document. Simply delete the black-and-white logo and the address lines provided in the letterhead word-processing template.

If you need another kind of office document, for instance, an announcement or form, you can modify the memo template. Your organization's Lock-up will stay in the upper-left corner, and you will replace the word "Memo" in the upper-right corner with "Announcement" or "Form." You may want to use the To, From and similar lines that are set up in the Memo format, or you may eliminate those lines and set up your own format. More information about producing Smithsonian announcements can be found in Quick Tips.

If you need camera-ready copies of a "Smithsonian Institution" or "Smithsonian" logo, a one-page slick with a choice of artwork in various sizes and formats is available. It can be photocopied or used by printing companies in  such applications as report covers. The available camera-ready artwork does not provide individual Smithsonian organization logos. Contact the Office of Public Affairs to request the camera-ready "Smithsonian Institution" and "Smithsonian" artwork.

Before starting on the word-processing templates provided on this page, be sure to download the Minion font.