This time of year, it seems that my to-do list grows faster than I can check things off. From holiday shopping to travel plans, crafting parties to gift wrap, there’s always something to make, plan or do. Of course, the holidays are particularly busy for Emma’s design team, as our customers need top-notch design work for their year-end campaigns. It’s a high-volume season, and we know how important it is to rise above the inbox noise.
And so, for the first time, our designers have created dozens of beautiful, handcrafted designs that are ready to go in no time. And each $25 design comes in two formats so you’re covered no matter what kind of mailing you’d like to send.
Best yet, the Readymade designs will be available in your account within 3-4 business hours of submitting your request, so even a professional, handmade design can keep up with your holiday to-do list.
Let’s take a look at a just a few of our Readymade designs …
Design: Fall Leaves
Designer: Lee Floyd
Design level: Readymade holiday design
Lee may be one of our newer designers here at Emma, but he has already wowed us with his great eye for textures and type, which you can see here in “Fall Leaves” and also on the fancy new holiday page he made. This is one of the few Readymade options with a vertically-oriented postcard, which works beautifully for this particular design because the dimensions give more breathing room to all its rich, varied textures.
Both the postcard and stationery maintain the same design concept, and you’ll get both versions with each Readymade you choose. Postcards are designed at a fixed size; they’re best suited for quick well wishes, short holiday greetings or brief messages of thanks. Newsletters, surveys and longer marketing pieces, on the other hand, will work best framed by the stationery version, which integrates with Emma layouts and expands vertically to accommodate more content.
Design: Christmas Swirls
Designer: Stef Atkinson
Design level: Readymade holiday design
This beautiful, more traditional Christmas design comes from another of our new designers, Stef, and is a great marriage of delicate, graceful lines and bold pops of red. The end result is certainly formal but still dynamic; the stationery version even has a hand-designed custom frame around the content area for added visual interest.
The postcard version takes up much less vertical space than many of the other postcard designs so your own message gets seen sooner. Like all the Readymade postcards, it includes an editable text box and image box for a personal greeting and branding just below the design. Here, we have a simple year-end message (“From all of us to all of you … Wishing you good times, good cheer and a Happy New Year!”) and a sample logo to illustrate how you can add your own touch to the card.
Design: Season’s Greetings
Designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Readymade holiday design
Taylor, one of our senior designers, really wanted to convey the joy of the season with fun gift wrap and interesting textures, but without the traditional red-green color scheme. The content area’s cream background adds another complementary but unexpected twist, and it definitely allows the red bow to pop all the more off the screen.
The cream-colored area in the postcard version is textured, and the message is in a specialty font because it’s all image-based. The stationery, however, requires websafe fonts and a flat-color background, since textures would have required a background image — and that sort of thing behind live content doesn’t work reliably in email. (Websafe fonts are automatically available for selection when you are working on a campaign in Emma in edit mode.)
Design: Shiny New Year
Designer: Stef Atkinson
Design level: Readymade holiday design
Stef’s design for New Year’s beautifully reflects her signature style; you can tell she has a wonderful sense of color and a photographer’s eye for composition. In this design, the light spots and sparkles with hints of bright gold and copper balance well with the simple outer shapes and the classic folded ribbon in a flatter, muted color scheme.
And of course, the beauty of any “Happy New Year” design is that you can send it both before *and* after the holiday itself, such as for New Year’s sales that extend through the holiday and into mid-January.
For more tips on seasonal campaigns, be sure to check out Molly’s guide to wrangling your own holiday email marketing plan.
Here’s to the end of the year, and to stylish, affordable design — we hope this season brings you lots of joy and a schedule full of good work and good times!
Hugs and holiday toasts,
The Emma Design Team
+++++

The Emma staff on Stand Against Racism day, wearing orange to show support for the YWCA and promote awareness of the event.
Another special event for us at Emma happened today: our second annual potluck for Juneteenth, one of my personal favorite holidays. Its inspiring story commemorates the end of slavery, honors African American history and achievement and celebrates freedom, community and diversity.
It was in that spirit, then, that staffers contributed dishes from their own personal backgrounds and cultures for today’s potluck. It was an incredible spread, and I was reminded of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such hard-working, forward-thinking people.
Of course, one of the ways that we on the design team help promote community progress is through custom designs for our nonprofit customers who are out there doing good in the world.By doing our part to visually tell these clients’ brand stories, we hope to help them advertise their events, raise more funds and drive their volunteer efforts. It’s wonderfully rewarding to work with these customers, hear their success stories and watch their readership grow, and we’re proud to have a small part in those stories by crafting their custom designs.
And with that, let’s take a look at some designs for three hardworking nonprofits that are making strides towards social justice and progress.
Customer: Students of the World
Designer: Jessica Peoples
Design Level: Concierge Design
Since it was founded at Duke University in 1999, Students of the World has collaborated with college students to create documentary media, and then use those materials to gain support for nonprofits all over the world. When Katie Sobering requested stationery for SOW, the organization was already in the process of re-branding and re-working its web presence to expand its global reach.
Katie noted that it was very important to keep the stationery simple and professional, but somehow visually communicate the essence of the brand without any “fancy frills or clutter.” The color scheme was set to charcoal, turquoise, beige and white, so Jessica stuck to those exclusively and used just a bit of antiqued texturing to add some visual interest to an otherwise very simple, clean design. She also created a custom graphic for the “send this email to a friend” link, which echoes the logo design and replaces the default version of the link included in Emma emails.
Customer: The Contributor
Designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design Level: Concierge Design
Last year, the Emma design team came out of thinkTank, a local design conference, inspired and touched by story of speaker Tasha French. Since founding The Contributor in 2007, Tasha and her team have turned their nonprofit passion project into the biggest street newspaper in North America.
The organization’s website incorporates some beautiful and powerful photographic images, many of them taken by Tasha herself, and she definitely wanted to include an image of Contributor vendors in the stationery. Elizabeth made sure to highlight the photograph by surrounding it with a distressed circular border in the same color as the tagline’s focal words. That border is also part of a larger plan to juxtapose the old and the new: on one hand, she gave prominence to the classic Contributor logo, of course, and added a faded graphic of an antique typewriter to the footer; on the other, the tagline and footer text are both in a clean, modern, sans serif font and the vendor photograph is in crisp, full color.
And, of course, tying it all back to the actual Contributor product, Elizabeth used paper textures and subtle shadowing to lend an aesthetic of real newsprint to the design. Tasha was thrilled with the outcome and has since been using the stationery for reader surveys, important news, and a fundraising push for spring/summer 2011.
Customer: Oregon Commission for Women
Designer: Jessica Peoples
Design Level: Concierge Design
The Oregon Commission for Women began less formally and under a different name in the 1960s, but in 1983, it became official on a legislative scale as an agency to promote women’s equality, education and empowerment. Jenny Greenleaf requested the custom stationery for the OCW with an open mind about much of the design direction, but she did note a preference of plumb, sage and khaki for the color scheme.
For this design, Jessica and Jenny discussed the organization’s mission, branding and various stationery ideas. From there, Jessica used the title (“She Flies with Her Own Wings”) as inspiration for the flowing nature of this design. Jenny loved the final look and has been brainstorming all kinds of uses for her new stationery. We’re so proud of her efforts to dive right in, and can’t wait to see how her email campaigns enhance the organization’s overall marketing strategy.
How does your office promote community and social justice? Let us know about your company’s initiatives – big or small – to celebrate diversity, commemorate history and push for social progress. If you’re interested in starting your own event for Stand Against Racism, you can find out more online or at your local YWCA.
Until next time … love, hugs and working together,
The Emma Design Team
Every year, we award free Emma accounts to deserving nonprofits through our Emma 25 program. We love to watch these wonderful organizations turbo-charge their marketing, expand their reach and do more good in the world using email to spread the word.
Since custom design is included for all honorees, this program is a particular pleasure for the design team because we get to interact one-on-one with many of these awe-inspiring Emma 25ers. In this month’s design showcase, we’re taking a look at the custom stationery for four of our most recent honorees.
Client: Rape Crisis Center
Designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design Level: Concierge Design
The Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties is a facility dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault and to working towards the ultimate prevention of the crime through education and awareness. Leanne Graham, the Center’s Director of Grants Management, wanted the stationery to be consistent with the website’s sense of warmth and comfort.
Leigh was instantly a fan of the Center’s soft colors and textures, but she knew that some features were geared more towards the web — and would need an email-friendlier alternative for the stationery design. She rebuilt the website header to feature the organizations’s slogan, “healing. hope. empowerment,” in lieu of the website’s navigation bar; this way, the header design is streamlined and the logo is the clear focal point.
The website header features a bit of animation that works really well in a browser, but email clients’ super-sensitive spam filters can be finicky about animation. Still, Leigh wanted to convey a sense of movement in the email header, so she added some floating dandelion seeds across the design to create a gentle, dynamic swirl. She also liked the ripped paper border that surrounds the website’s featured image, so she re-purposed that texture to frame the mailing content area. The result is a beautiful, brand-consistent stationery that takes into account all aspects of the website design without losing sight of the unique needs of the email environment.
To learn more about the Rape Crisis Center or to donate to their cause, please visit them online.
Client: Help-Portrait
Designer: Taylor Schena
Design Level: Concierge Design
Earlier this spring, several Emma staffers were lucky enough to see a TEDx Nashville talk by Jeremy Cowart, a celebrity photographer and the founder of Help-Portrait. The idea behind this organization is simple but powerful: those in need often feel ignored and unimportant, but a day of pampering followed by a photo shoot under the spotlight can help them see, appreciate and document their own beauty and dignity — often for the first time in their lives.
Taylor was thrilled to create the stationery for Help-Portrait, but there were immediate questions as to how certain aspects of the website branding could translate to a fabulous email design. On the web, the little square images in the background are tiled from one edge of the window to another, which requires a particular kind of code that makes the images automatically repeat to fill the screen. However, that kind of code is not accepted by all email clients, so Taylor used the square images as a background texture behind the header, and then used an email-friendly solid gray beyond the header area.
For an extra kick of consistency (and to help drive traffic, of course), Taylor used the same navigation bar in the stationery as what appears on the website. However, she scaled down the size of the links and scaled up the logo — so the emphasis is still clearly on the identity of the brand.
Want to find out more about Help-Portrait? Click here.
Client: Teton Valley Education Foundation
Designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design Level: Concierge Design
The Teton Valley Education Foundation is an organization working to improve public education in Teton Valley, Idaho through advocacy, grants, volunteer coordination and educational programming. So far, they have been using their email stationery to advertise their community meetings, Volunteer Recognition Luncheons and Teacher Appreciation Week — event-based marketing that fosters the reputation of the Foundation as an industrious, engaged organization.
Deneen Bowen, the Foundation’s Executive Director, requested the stationery right at the time they were about to re-brand their website. Fortunately, they already had a good idea of how the new identity would look. Deneen sent over a brochure that included all the new colors as well as her favorite element, the green swoosh, so that Leigh would have a solid idea of the new aesthetic they were going for. Deneen stressed that she wanted a clean design with happy, bright colors, and Leigh was glad to oblige. Now, the Foundation has a new website and new stationery that consistently and cheerfully reflect its brand story.
Get involved or donate to the foundation on their website here.
Client: Elders Share the Arts
Designer: Kelly McClain
Design Level: Concierge Design
For over 30 years now, Elders Share the Arts has been working with seniors in the New York City metropolitan area to encourage their creative potential and affirm their place in the community as storytellers and bearers of history and culture. ESTA organizes a number of community and larger-scale events, and their email stationery has already helped with the promotion of everything from their small-group Story Circles to the Annual Flamekeeper Gala.
Jennie Smith-Peers, the Executive Director of ESTA, submitted the request for stationery along with several great images, and Kelly narrowed it down to the four pictures that she saw as perfect reflections of the organizations’ mission. The blue background color came from the ESTA’s own branding and website, which has a very clean design and user-friendly structure. Kelly created bits of texture and depth to frame the header and peek out from behind the content area, but she intentionally maintained a simplicity of design so that the spotlight would remain on Jennie’s beautiful, powerful photos.
If you’d like to become a part of the ESTA story, visit their website here.
Until next time … love and hugs to all the nonprofits out there who are fighting the good fight!
Your Emma Design Team
As a design consultant, you will often be the first and most enduring face of the design team for many of our customers. Because of that, it’s essential that you possess the perfect blend of solid design knowledge, project management chops and customer service skills. The person we’re looking for could confidently explain why layered files make for easier revisions, translate those revisions into design-speak for the designer and then coordinate the completion of the project itself — all with the warmth and genuine enthusiasm that our clients deserve.
Experience in marketing coordination, ad trafficking or similar fields would definitely be a plus, as these jobs often require the same basic strengths and skills as the design consultant position. Our team turns out high volume on a quick turnaround with style, and we also enjoy a good afternoon snack to celebrate our efforts. (Especially if said snack involves Taylor’s tandy cake. Yum.) Other things we like include Razor scooters, nicknames, office visits from co-workers’ puppies and making new Pandora stations.
So what do you say, dear reader? Would you like to advise our fabulous clients on email form and function? For more information or to apply, please click here.
If you’re a graphic designer, we’re looking for that as well! Check out that position over here.
Emma’s Nashville office is looking to expand our design team, composed of quite possibly the very finest graphic designers in the universe (seriously!). If you have powerhouse design skills and like the idea of working with creative (and creatively nicknamed) folks such as “Lizard,” “Crigsy” and “Lojo,” you could be just what we’re looking for.
The right candidate, of course, would be more than just a wizard at design. Excellent customer service is one of Emma’s highest priorities, and, as a member of our team, you would be interacting directly with clients throughout the day to help them achieve their most stylish of email goals. Because of that, you would need to have superb communication skills – both written and verbal – to ensure that your designs are backed up by an overall experience that is nothing short of awesome.
What else do we want? Innovation, collaboration and *maybe* occasional participation in impromptu dance parties, sing-alongs or cake-eating circles. We do like our cake.
If it sounds like we’re speaking your language, we’d love to hear from you. Learn more about the position or apply here.
The great Oscar Wilde, when commenting on the editing process, once said, “I was working on the proof of one of my layouts all the morning, and took out a <br /> tag. In the afternoon I put it back again.”
Or … maybe I’m paraphrasing.
If you’re like us, though, you could indeed spend a lovely summer’s day tweaking every aspect of your code to make your email look just so. But when it comes to the basic structure of your campaigns (and their ability to render across email clients), we know it can be frustrating to discover that many of your hard-earned, über-fancy web design skills are, quite frankly, useless in the email environment. Hey, we’ve all been there. Email is simply a different kind of beast.
But cheer up – help has arrived. In addition to our updated tips on HTML for email, you now have access to the code that lives behind the scenes of our content layout templates. Feel free to incorporate these into your designs if you’re using an Upload Your Own HTML template or if you’re an Emma agency using Stationery Builder.
Each one consists of clean, email-friendly table structure that is Emma-tested and Emma-approved for proper rendering across all major email clients. Just replace “Insert your text here” and “<img src=”insert your image url here” border=”0″ alt=”" />” with your own content, and you’ll be ready to go.
The code is hosted by the folks over at GitHub, a secure web-based hosting service for code and software development. All you have to do is click on the layout link of your choice, and then it’s just a matter of copying, pasting and editing the code.
So come on, go nuts! It’s time to geek out on HTML and have a little fun. You can always come back to the source code if things start getting wonky (that, of course, being a technical term).
Just remember the cardinal rule of coding campaigns: test every email, every time, in as many email clients as you can. You might even consider using Litmus or Email on Acid to conduct more thorough testing, especially if you’re going to be making lots of changes to the provided code.
And if you get stuck, never fear! We do offer code correction services through our design department. Just give us a shout and we can provide a quote for the work.
Ready to start coding? Click here to get the HTML for our most popular content layouts.
If you’d like to get more HTML help, check out Molly’s post about the recent changes to our help section, or Taylor’s aptly titled tip sheet, “Email Is Not a Website.”
Jimmy Thorn is a man of few words, but he has saved some of them just for you. Take a look at his tips for beginners, or skip right ahead and check out his more advanced ideas below.
1. If you have the capability, drop shadows on transparent PNGs are a great way to add a little depth to your email.
2. Rounding your image corners or giving your image a unique shape will add a visually interesting twist.

Design Coordinator Kelley Kirker poses with Brian the Bunny, found this past spring in the Emma parking lot. Notice how rounded corners and a drop shadow give so much more depth and definition to the version on the right. (Disclaimer: It may *look* like Brian is in a death grip, but we promise no animals were harmed in the taking of this photograph.)
3. Similarly oriented images used in a similar manner should be the same size.
4. Make sure your design says one thing well. If you overwork your design, it will say several things ineffectively.
5. Wacky visual gimmicks might be eye-catching at first — but good, solid design will keep your audience reading, scrolling and clicking.
6. A certain level of consistency is key. If your first article headline is blue, bold, 14-point Times New Roman, then don’t make the second one red, underlined, 16-point Verdana.
7. When you finish a campaign, ask yourself: What was my point? Did I clearly make it — both textually and visually? If not, go back to Edit mode.
8. If you’re sending us a predesigned stationery for us to code — or if you’re using an Upload Your Own template to design your own — make sure the borders can expand vertically to accommodate different amounts of content. (And keep in mind that images can’t stretch.)
9. If you try to shoehorn your brand guidelines for other media into your email design, it will show (or you’ll have delivery problems). Instead, try to adapt and enhance your branding for the specific world of email.
10. Use your data to improve your next campaign. Do your readers typically click text-based links? Buttons? Photos? Every time you send, your readers talk back. Make sure you’re listening.
A few best practices and design ideas for the beginning email marketer, including how to talk to your designer.

Here, the Emma Design Team might *look* fabulous, but our photo is breaking the Sample Stationery. An image this big is bad for your SPAM score, and it's bad design: the photo is so wide that it's forcing the right border to move far out to the right, way past the edge of the header.
Jimmy Thorn is a man of few words, but he’s saved some of them just for you. And though he just moved to Emma’s User Experience team, Jimmy’s work has been an integral part of Emma Design for the last three years. We’ll certainly miss our man JimJam, but we’ll always remember these words of wisdom.
1. Keep your content brief. Your audience’s attention span is much shorter than you think. Pique interest with teaser paragraphs, and link to the full story elsewhere.
2. Don’t use too many fonts in one email. Call attention with different font sizes, not different fonts.
3. Using a lot of crazy, bright colors might sound like a great way to get attention — but in reality, it’s a turn-off for your audience and a big turn-on for SPAM filters.
4. Comic Sans, Papyrus and other non-traditional fonts are suitable for a very narrow range of purposes. Generally speaking, they have no place in the majority of professional marketing materials.
5. Giant images do not tell the story well; they can actually get your emails flagged as SPAM. Live text is a much more efficient way of getting your message across.

Ah, that's much better! Now the image has a prominent spot in the campaign, but it isn't breaking the stationery. The borders are rendering properly, and everything is aligned as it should be.
6. The more information you can give your designer, the better your design will be. Despite our best efforts, we are not mind readers — so it’s a safe bet that we are not going to design exactly what you had in mind.
7. If you say “clean” and “modern,” we will take you at your word — and you will probably get a design with more white space than you actually want.
8. When providing art direction to a designer, descriptive words or tangible ideas will yield better results than “jazz it up” or “make it pop.”
9. Designers are used to hearing the word “no.” Don’t feel like you will hurt our feelings if you do not like the design. Just give us some good, solid direction, and we’ll move on and get it right.
10. Make sure your design reflects your company accurately and conveys its true story. Giant flames, for example, might be great if you own a motorcycle shop — not an investment firm.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Jimmy’s Design Tips, which will offer Jimmy’s famously sage insight for the more advanced email marketer.
Want more now? Take a gander at Kelly’s 5 Tips for Visually Effective Email Campaigns.
For this month’s edition of the showcase, some of our designers picked a few of their favorite stationery creations from the year. The selection represents a diverse range of clients, and we like how each design clearly reflects both the personality of the brand and the skill of the designer.
Client: Centennial Pediatrics
Emma designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design level: Concierge Design
Centennial Pediatrics is a Nashville-based health care center and a leader in pediatric research and parent education. They already had a solid logo and some good-looking supporting graphics to work with, so Elizabeth’s primary challenge was to enhance those images for the world of email. It turned out to be a great working relationship, and the resulting stationery became one of Elizabeth’s favorites from the year.
“I loved working with these guys, and they were super pleased with the stationery,” says Elizabeth. “They weren’t sure how to incorporate their website elements into the design at first, but it turned out to be a fun design for parents and kids alike.”
Client: Julie Hanna Photography
Emma designer: Kelly McClain
Design level: Concierge Design
When Julie Hanna requested stationery for her photography business, she wasn’t sure about the style she wanted to convey. She wanted a visually compelling design, but nothing that would distract the eye or detract from her logo. She sent us a photograph of a woman wearing a scarf that she found particularly beautiful, and Kelly used it as inspiration for the design.
“I tried to create a look that had a similar, flowy feel to it,” says Kelly. “I was excited to experiment with different styles because she was so open to trying something new. I ended up layering textures to achieve the final look, and it turned out really well.”
Client: U Scoop
Emma designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Stationery Suite
Maddy from Uscoop needed a decidedly collegiate feel in her stationery design, and she wanted it to be fun. Taylor had the additional challenge of creating a full stationery suite of three designs without a finalized company website to use as reference, and without any supporting graphics beyond the logo. Fortunately, Maddy gave her several inspiration files and the thumbs-up to try some new ideas.
“We talked on the phone about their company, their demographic and business goals, and what they wanted to accomplish with their stationery,” says Taylor. “They really liked type with personality — scripts, academic looks and hand-made styles — and they also had an affinity for wood grain textures, old books and paper textures. But they didn’t have anything specific to provide, so it was really fun because I had so much creative freedom.”
Client: Gill Lindsay
Emma designer: Jessica Peoples
Design level: Custom greeting card
When Gill Lindsay decided to send her save-the-date notices via email, she went straight to Jessica, one of our senior designers. Jess also got married recently, so working on this design created a special moment for her to share with her friend. (Author’s note: Congratulations to both of the happy couples!)
“I loved this one so much because it’s personal, simple and inviting,” says Jess. “It’s always exciting to add drawn elements, and I love using design to make people smile.”
For more examples of Emma brand stationery, click here. Ready to request your own? You can reach us here if you’d like to open an account, or here if you’re a current customer.
Here’s to a design-filled 2011,
Your Emma Design Team
Let your email campaigns do some good this season with these free “donate” buttons.
If you’re a friend of Emma, chances are you’re a fan of charitable giving, community partnerships and, of course, stylish design. It’s in that spirit that we present to you a collection of snazzy “donate” buttons, designed by our own quite snazzy designers.
Download ‘em right here on the Emma blog, and upload your favorites to your holiday campaigns. You can then set up links to your favorite charity’s website, or to your own fundraising page if you’re a nonprofit.
If you’d like to help but aren’t sure who needs a hand (or a link), check out some past Emma 25 honorees who would surely appreciate some holiday love. (And until November 15, you can still help us spread the word to deserving charities about this year’s Emma 25 — we’re taking applications now.)
Not sure what to say? As always, we recommend keeping it simple, personal and concise. Try opening with a short description of the nonprofit and the reason you chose this one to highlight. Then use a call to action to ask your readers for their help.
Feel free to model your caption after this sample text:
Feeding America is a hunger-relief charity that touched our hearts with their backpack program, which helps children who need nourishment on the weekends. They would love your support this holiday season — click above to make a difference!
Ready to give a helping hand? Click here to download a zip file of these free holiday buttons and get linkin’! (Or pick your favorites from our Facebook gallery instead.)
And if you’d like to send your holiday greeting on some custom seasonal stationery, take a look at your design options.
Hugs and holiday spirit,
Your Emma Design Team
Emma is a member of the Email Sender & Provider Coalition and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
Copyright © 2003 - 2012 Emma. All rights reserved.