It wasn't broken, but I fixed it anyways.

There is a power in design that is both obvious and subtle.

I recently re-worked my own email newsletter design so it better reflected the look and feel I wanted my company brand to embrace.

Doubling down on the handwritten letter reading experience I wanted to create I chose to cut down on the fancy graphics to focus on content. I had chosen my last design because the footer replicated the look and feel of a piece of paper with a drop shadow. But those details were cut out when reading on mobile. 

Left Alignment: It made more sense for me that the look and feel should be the same regardless of what platform you were reading my letters on. So I changed the template to a simple text style, all aligned on the left side. I removed the central table and background colour.

Space to breathe: The standard spacing Mailchimp provides in the settings has seemed either too snug or too spaced out. So editing the HTML code I adjusted the paragraph spacing to avoid the need to add an extra return between each paragraph which was not just too large of a space, but as a publication designer, it's a pet peeve of mine when I get copy to flow in a layout with extra returns when I can set the space after paragraphs with one adjustment.

Mailing Address: This is a requirement in the footer from Mailchimp. You can't delete it because they will just go ahead and tack on a second footer with their standard required details, basically adding the address back and duplicating the rest of the information you may have. I wanted to minimize the way it would look, a stacked mailing address and a link to add it to your address book. I had seen other newsletters where the mailing address was formatted to a simple one line. I realized the trick when I read the Mailchimp code closer. So voila, my address is now a simple line.

More Focus: In order to better direct the reader to what matters, I eliminated the extra graphics, as good as I look, the intention of the email to connect with the reader, not showcase my face. I returned my written signature to further work in the written letter look and feel.

Colour Matters: My brand colours are gold, teal blue, and a dark grey. Since the standard URL text link is blue, I made all my text links my teal blue colour to go with the simple look and feel as well as to encourage clickable action without distractions.

Do you use Mailchimp for your newsletters and are interested in learning how to design your emails beyond the standard template? They have an article that walks you through the how and whys of using their unique code. If you use a different service dig around their support pages, they will likely have some similar tips.

Whether you want to talk directly to your reader using their first name, or include a simple click and go survey question, they have a code that could be the ticket. The trick is knowing that they exist in the first place. Learn More.