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Concept Reviews
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I know you're not really a designer and I know HTML emails can be tricky.
But there's no reason this can't be a lot better than it is.
Colours.
Decide on a suitable colour scheme and stick to it. By sticking to an attractive, well-balanced colour scheme the visual look of this would improve dramatically. Currently you have turquoise, red, light blue, sky blue, yellow, grey and I think there's even a green in there somewhere.
Ditch the tagline at the top. You don't need it, and it's making the header cluttered. Once you've ditched it, re-align your logo with the "in focus" so that there is even margins around both.
Scrap the image borders. Again, you don't need them. Just make sure there's suitable padding on the images. If you can't do this well with the html just add a white border in an image program.
Ditch the border on the sidebar, but keep the transparent background colour. Just make the colour fit in more (re: colour scheme).
Ditch the image border around your pic and re align the text next to it to fit in with the rest of the sidebar.
Use the same colour background to highlight the two elements at the bottom. i.e. ditch the border on the right side element, and give it the same background colour as the sidebar, then give each of the three elements on the left the same background, and ditch those red lines and borders.
Next, scrap the border on the section under the main image. Again, give it a background colour.
Make your content background colours very subtle, you don't want them to dominate, but you want them to highlight.
That's about it...those are some pretty easy things I think you can do to drastically improve the design quality of your newsletter. You might not be a designer but you CAN make this good!
Good luck! :)
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Ilan Yavor commented:Hi Michael,
Thanks for your candid reply.
I'll tell you my problem with the color scheme.
Our company colors are dark blue, light blue, and yellow-orange. I think this is wise, given that we need to convey high-tech quality as well as safety and security.
On the other hand, the red rectangle is a cor element of our technology (this is what you see when it identifies hazards on the road). I wanted it to be a recurring element....
Regarding the tagline. I feel that just having "In Focus" is too vague- what is this? who's it meant for? I have the tagline later on in the newsletter, is this enough?
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Hi Ilan,
Firstly, I must commend you on your effort, considering that you don't come from a design background.
HTML emails are really tricky to design, and even trickier to code properly.
I can't really point to any one thing in particular regarding this layout but do bear the following pointers in mind:
- Take for granted that most email received will have images disabled by default
- designing for above-the-fold is even more critical for HTML email. Consider having links/anchors near the top to summarize the various sections of each issue, like a table of contents
- Keep your grid really rigid for easier development later on. What I mean by this is do not have unbalanced rows and columns for your content area.
- If you're using an ESP to deliver your newsletters, do consider using their Forward Friend function for a broader reach
- Factor in an online version for those that may not be able to view the email properly
- Remember to factor in CAN-SPAM compliance stuff such as your company's physical address, unsubscribe link, and a short liner on where the recipients email was gotten from and why they're receiving this newsletter.
Lastly, I have to partially disagree with you that fancy graphics are not necessary. An engaging email (whether visual or through content) is of utmost importance or you might find many recipients dropping out of your mailing list.
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Ilan Yavor commented:
Hi!
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate everyone's candidness. My ultimate aim is to hire a graphic designer, but I wanted to try out a concept first and get feedback to help me work with the designer.
One important thing- at this point, the newsletters are simply links sent to our distribution list which lead to a PDF page on our website, so no fancy coding is needed here. We only have a few thousand people on the list, who are mainly business partners and clients, so I don't know if we should go to HTML emails (which, like you say, generally have their graphics blocked).
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Hi Ilan,
Well, like the guys said creating a html e-mail is a little bit complicated. So, in my opinion you should hire a professional.
- The layout is too crowded, there
s too much information and its poorly organized, making it hard to read a paragraph or pay attention to something. - I don
t know where to start reading, maybe you should work on the hierarchy of the elements, see whats more important and what could be moved to a secondary section. - I don
t think you used a color scheme while you were designing the layout, its a good idea to have a color scheme and use it, not only to keep the identity of your business visible to your readers, but to make it more organized and clean. - In my opinion you used too many images, it will certainly make your final file heavy, try to remove some unnecessary images and elements, make it cleaner!
- Consistency is important to make your readers follow the text as it was supposed to be followed, try to use a specific color, size and font for all similar elements, like headers, paragraphs, buttons, etc.
- Get a redesign for your website, make it more informative, create a strong identity. I don`t see much sense on investing your time and money on email newsletters while your website and your identity needs to be worked.
Sorry for my bad english.
- The layout is too crowded, there
@iian, A good place to get some color scheme ideas is http://www.kuler.adobe.com Hope that helps a bit!