Somehow never done a cover letter before

[almoststew1990]

I need to do a cover letter for a role I am interested in. Somehow, despite this being in my fourth role/company since 2012 I've never had to do a cover letter. Googling templates (including 'UK' in the search) for this reveals lots of 'branded' cover letters with coloured headers and your name in large letters at the top of the page, using different font types. Things that I wouldn't consider to be 'letter writing'.

Is this good practice to make yourself stand out or would you think it is gimmicky?

 

[almoststew1990]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've gone for a professional/ basic style.