In bonded lap joints it is well known that the shear stress within the adhesive peaks at points of discontinuity of the adherends. In order to control these stress concentrations to a satisfactory level, in linear elastic adhesives, tapered adherends are necessary. This paper presents the development of linear analytical procedure for the analysis and design of flat bonded joints with tapered homogeneous isotropic adherends. The geometry of this taper is calculated to minimize the shear stress concentrations in the adhesive. Reducing the shear stress peaks in the adhesive by tapering the adherends from the nominal thickness often creates a secondary tensile stress concentration in the adherends. Satisfactory shear stress concentrations in the adhesive and tensile or shear stress concentrations in the adherends can be achieved simultaneously by careful geometric design of the adherends.