Author Archive: Kelley Kirker
Design showcase: Celebrate good times
You may have noticed it doesn’t take much to warrant a full-on celebration at Emma. We are quick to bake a cake or raise a glass in celebration of one another — and our customers. And September happens to be a month of particular merriment for the Emma design family. In just a six-week span, six of us will turn one year older, including yours truly and my fellow design consultant, Kat Amano. (We actually share the exact same birthday: today! Bring on the cake.)
Naturally, we can’t help but be a little merry when there is so much excitement in the air. We are in good company, in fact. Many of you have shared your special days with us and allowed us to create a custom design for the occasion — whether it celebrates you directly or your email audience. Let’s take a peek at a few, shall we?
Client: First United Bank
Designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design Level: Concierge Design
Celebration: Birthday
First United Bank came to us needing a custom birthday greeting for their audience. They knew they wanted something “nice and colorful” but left the direction of the design to Leigh. The challenge was to bring out some playfulness, fun and color without losing the professional aesthetic of an established bank. Leigh hit the nail on the head by opting for the classic birthday accoutrement; you got it: balloons.
Knowing they would only need room for a small bit of text, First United asked for one editable text box, instead of opting for a fully expandable stationery. With that in mind, Leigh built the design as more of a card, which is what allows for the solid balloon border. (With a regular stationery, an image-based border would prevent the design from being vertically flexible, so it would not be able to expand and contract depending on its content.)
Now, these happy customers use their custom card design to send automatic trigger emails to their clients on their birthdays. It communicates a decidedly personal sentiment to a customer to be remembered on their special day, especially by their bank. Nice work, First United.
Client: Big Events Weddings
Designer: Taylor Schena
Design Level: Concierge Design
Celebration: Wedding
For many Nashville couples, their wedding celebration is made perfect by the genius women of Big Events Weddings. These savvy businesswomen, planners and designers came to us needing a stationery that fit them to a tee. Theirs is a sophisticated, stylish charm, and Taylor really tuned in to their aesthetic to create a stationery header and footer that dazzled them.
The golden Craspedia and the turquoise in the logo pop beautifully against the soft, romantic earth tones of the header. Taylor also incorporated a softly lit photo of a couple’s first dance to visually support the theme and purpose of the stationery. And, of course, the color of the footer and the jewelry in the photograph reinforce the logo, and Taylor created custom social media buttons to help drive traffic to their various networks. The finished product is a bit of an experience in itself — and it seems only fitting, as the stationery is a vehicle for many a wedding fairytale waiting to be told.
Client: Vanderbilt Medical Center: LifeFlight
Designer: Taylor Schena
Design Level: Concierge Design
Celebration: Fundraiser
Any opportunity to work with our neighbor, Vanderbilt University, is a welcome one. The Medical Center’s LifeFlight division is the hospital’s critical care air transport service, and these fine folks met with Taylor to discuss the design for their annual fundraiser, which helps offset the costs of having four helicopters, two airplanes and an ambulance. Fortunately, the event attracts a broad range of attendees; in addition to the silent auction and elegant gala, there is a “late party” for the young set.
The fundraiser takes place at the beginning of fall, before Nashville has changed to true autumnal weather. As such, our friends at Vanderbilt wanted to avoid direct references to fall such as leaves and warm colors. Taking that into consideration, Taylor pulled the green from the event’s tablecloths and created a classy, flexible stationery that will be used for the Save the Date, as well as event updates to follow. Its vintage aesthetic delighted the party planners at LifeFlight,and we can’t wait to hear how the event goes next month!
Client: Loan Shack
Designer: Kelly McClain
Design Level: Concierge Design
Celebration: Birthday
Like First United, Loan Shack knows that wishing your customers a happy birthday is one of the simplest ways to really personalize your email marketing. With that in mind, they approached us for a new stationery design that would be unique from any other designs we’d done for them — and that would be 100% dedicated to client appreciation.
Kelly created a design that looks like a frosted cake, complete with “Happy Birthday” candles. The yellow “cake” portion is the content layout area, so any Emma’s simple, newsletter and advanced layout options can be inserted there — and with the solid background color, the stationery is vertically expandable in case they decide to include more content. The lighter gradient in the footer creates a great visual counter-balance to the lit candles, which echo the brand colors in the logo.
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Do you have a special occasion you’d like to celebrate with a new design? We can help. Just fill out our online design form, and we’ll take it from there. You can also learn more about surveys for event invitations and trigger emails for birthday messages and other pre-scheduled campaigns. Don’t forget to personalize your celebration message — it’s a simple way to make your email so more special for your reader.
Cheers,
Your Emma Design Team
Surveys (and leaps) we like to take
Using Emma's free feature to request customer feedback and take your business to new heights
I love a good challenge, so when I saw the opportunity to go skydiving *and* meet some Emma customers in person, I couldn’t resist. Located in rural Chester, South Carolina, they are the Carolinas’ premier drop zone and consistently draw adrenaline junkies from far and wide (even design consultants from Nashville, Tennessee!). I recently caught up with James LaBarrie, the general manager of Skydive Carolina, to discuss the experience I had using their service and an Emma feature he has found quite beneficial.
Kelley en route to earth. Also pictured: just another day at the office for her tandem, Chuck, from Skydive Carolina.
Skydive Carolina regularly uses the Emma survey feature that’s free with every account because it’s a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of their customers. James is passionate about the company’s commitment to building relationships with clients and providing superior customer service.
“We aren’t only hoping to please our customers,” he says. “We are hoping to amaze them. But when we fail, I see it as an opportunity to create a raving fan.”
Of course, an important element of the service experience is the customer’s ability to easily provide feedback and the company’s willingness to listen. With a role that is mostly behind the scenes, James does not get the opportunity to interact with each customer who visits. For him, it is often the survey alone that provides the valuable feedback they need.
“The survey is a great way to know when we’re falling short and when all is well,” he adds. And in those rare instances that a customer does not have the best experience possible, James has been known to follow up with them personally.
The Skydive Carolina survey inquires about everything from how easy it was to find the location to how much the client liked the photo taken during the jump; each bit of information helps James make educated decisions about the business. But it’s not just about asking the right questions — James is also very intentional about asking at the right time as well. Jumpers receive a trigger email the day immediately following their dive, when the experience is still fresh enough to recall details.
Survey says: Everyone's gotta try this.
It’s amazing how much information is available if you simply request it. When thinking about your own business, consider the difference that customer feedback could make for you and follow Skydive Carolina’s lead. Heck, you may also like to follow their lead right out of a plane — you definitely wouldn’t regret it!
Here’s to surveyed customers, empowered email marketing and thrilling jumps.
Design showcase: A month of delectable designs
Just the mention of July brings a smile to my face. Besides hot days and beautiful sunsets, this mid-summer month also brings its fair share of food-related holidays. If your prime summer month has been lacking in the delicious treat department, here is your chance to catch up and celebrate in the name of calories.
National Fried Chicken Day | July 6th
Client: Otters Chicken Tenders
Designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design level: Concierge Design
Anyone who takes a day to celebrate fried chicken is a friend of mine. A typical offering in the Deep South, fried chicken is undoubtedly worthy of a wacky food holiday. In fact, July 6th is National Fried Chicken Day — and what a delicious holiday it is.
Leigh stepped up to the plate (pun intended) to set up Otter’s Chicken Tenders with the ideal email stationery for their campaigns. She created a balance of rough burlap texture, vibrant colors and enticing photos of Otter’s delicious food. Leigh used their brand colors of red and yellow, which also happen to be known for encouraging an appetite. It certainly worked on the design team!
Chocolate Day | July 7th
Client: Olive & Sinclair
Designer: Kelly McClain
Design level: Concierge Design
If you haven’t enjoyed a chocolate bar with a hint of salt and pepper, your taste buds are missing out. While it may sound like an unusual combo, it is just one of many exciting flavor profiles from Nashville’s premier chocolatier. Olive and Sinclair is a boutique chocolate shop located on Nashville’s East side that boasts creative artisan chocolate.
Scott Witherow, the shop’s founder, owner and a chocolate maker himself, came to us with amazing branding. His website is a piece of art — much like the product he creates. Kelly was happy to take on the challenge of reflecting the website without making it a perfect replica. The final product was an inspired stationery ideal for email inboxes and smartphones alike. She used textures that give depth and make the reader want to reach out and unwrap the tasty treat. The slightly distressed detail and muted colors are perfect accents that delight rather than overwhelm.
If you’re intrigued by what sets this shop apart from the rest, be sure to watch their behind-the-scenes video. They give us a good excuse to celebrate “National Chocolate Day” every day.
National Ice Cream Day | July 17th
Client: Sweet Cece’s Knoxville
Designer: Kelly McClain
Design level: Concierge Design
One frozen yogurt shop is taking Tennessee by storm! Sweet Cece’s is the perfect cure for a hot summer’s day. Our friends at Sweet Cece’s in Knoxville, TN requested a stationery that would help extend their youthful, energetic branding.
Our resident ice cream connoisseur, Kelly, was more than happy to oblige. The brand’s signature colors shine in this stationery, which is simply and cleanly designed so as not to compete with the content area. The simple scallop element hints at the treats used for toppings, and the custom buttons that Kelly created for Twitter and Facebook make this stationery tailored, whimsical and just plain sweet.
National Blueberry Month
Client: Avalon Acres
Designer: Lauren Johnston
Design level: Concierge Design
What better excuse to highlight local farms than National Blueberry Month? Jennifer Bodnar and the fine folks at Avalon Acres are kind enough to provide lots of Nashville locals with fresh quality fruits and vegetables delivered directly from the farm. This CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a rapidly growing concept as we move toward sustainable nutrition.
Avalon Acres provides its members with seasonal organic food and does so with style. Their brand new website needed a matching stationery to help tell their story, so Lauren worked with Jennifer to create a simply beautiful design. Jennifer requested something “rustic, farm-y [and] classy” so Lauren took the opportunity to include lots of images of life at Avalon Acres. Jennifer was thrilled with the outcome and has sent several campaigns since the CSA season begin in May.
(Author’s note: Want to celebrate Blueberry Month in style? Scout out your own local CSA or make Blueberry Boy Bait like our very own Megan Feltes did this week. We’re a spoiled bunch!)
Time to grab a fork and work your way through July’s delectable holidays. Happy snacking and happy sending!
Until next time,
Your Emma design team
Rumours Wine & Art Bar’s stylish email makeover
A fresh email strategy and a brand new look for a Nashville hot spot
I love a makeover. There’s something magical about seeing a sweeping, marked improvement and wondering about the journey from point A to point B. You can imagine my excitement, then, when I saw such a makeover pop into my inbox recently.
My favorite Nashville wine bar, Rumours, is an anchor of the trendy 12th South neighborhood and a top-notch spot with a relaxed, artful atmosphere. Over the years, co-owner Christy Shuff has worked to ensure Rumours’ role as a vibrant contributor to (and supporter of) Nashville’s local business community — and becoming one of Emma’s first clients in 2005 was just one part of that initiative.
Since then, Rumours’ owners have been intentional about informing their patrons of upcoming specials and events. Christy’s business partner handled the responsibility of email campaigns in the early days, using a stationery that served them well for a number of years.
The time eventually came for an update, but amid the chaos of owning and running a restaurant, it was a project that ended up on the back burner. Rumours continued to send email campaigns, but without a stationery design to frame the content. As a result, this fabulous hot spot’s mailings weren’t capturing their fun personality and stylish image.
Then came January of this year, when Christy’s decision to re-evaluate their email strategy led her to our design team. Emma designer Elizabeth Williams took a look at the Rumours brand and crafted something that artfully, dynamically blends the caliber of the restaurant with the spunk of the atmosphere. That new design inspired Christy to take a fresh look at the content layout too, and the result is impressive — it brings Rumours’ style to the forefront of their emails.
“[Our campaigns] have a more professional, structured format now,” says Christy. “It’s as if the right background for a painting had finally shown itself. I’ve received many compliments on our campaigns and feel that our message looks and feels more professional.”
Just look at the profound difference between the old campaign and the new. We are so proud of Christy and Rumours — not just for making good design a priority, but for having the tenacity to protect and promote the brand identity they’ve worked so hard to develop over the years. We raise our glass to you, Christy! Here’s to many more years of celebrations.
Kelley Kirker, our resident makeover expert, has taken fabulous turns as both Jackie *and* Marilyn in the last year. Her current style, created by her twin sister and stylist, was inspired by the fiery elegance of Julianne Moore. We can’t wait to see what Kelley tries next.
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If the Emma design team can reinvent your current email design — or help you dream up the first — please let us know: Give us a shout if you’d like to start an account. Or request a design if you’re already part of our community.
Design showcase: Music in Our Schools Month
Here at Emma HQ, we’re lucky enough to be nestled in the heart of Music City, just a few minutes from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman Auditorium and RCA Studio B (where, incidentally, Elvis recorded “It’s Now or Never” — quite possibly our *most* favorite operatic pop hit from 1960).
Folks in Nashville quite simply have music in their DNA, so it seems only natural to share the love and spread the word about Music in Our Schools Month, a nationwide initiative to save music programs in public schools. And so, this month’s stationery showcase is dedicated to some of our favorite music-themed designs; songs tell a story, after all, and we like to think our stationery can do much the same. Join me as we check out a few beautiful designs created for some talented singers and storytellers.
Client: Jayme Stone
Emma Designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design Level: Concierge Design
What a delight to come across an amazing banjo player so far away from the Bluegrass State! When he isn’t teaching music classes, Jayme Stone composes and plays music inspired by folk dances from around the world. With the arrival of a new record, Room of Wonders, Jayme wisely chose to update his stationery to reflect the whimsical new site design, replete with illustration and hand lettering.
Armed with good direction and a strong sense of the Jayme’s branding, Elizabeth’s challenge was to bring that story into the world of email with a design that would shine in the inbox environment. She seized opportunities to tie in key details, such as the illustrated dancers and customized social sharing buttons. He also requested a customized “send to a friend” button that tied in nicely with the overall design. The result is a stationery that is a unique piece of his marketing narrative, but one that still fits into the story.
Client: Bonepony
Emma Designer: Jennifer Kasdorf
Design Level: Concierge Design
As long-time members of the Nashville roots rock community, Bonepony knew they needed to stay true to the rustic look of their branding without losing a professional, semi-polished look. They requested a stationery *inspired* by their website but not an exact duplication, so Jennifer got creative with existing pieces from the bounty of great materials Kenny provided.
Jennifer was able to maintain the rougher texture present in the website by applying it to the entire background of the stationery header, but she combined it with a new, sleek color palette of black, white and sliver. The result is a perfect, brand-consistent balance of edge and sophistication.
Client: Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
Emma Designer: Taylor Schena
Design Level: Concierge Design
Our friends Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors are Nashville-based independents that have been with Emma for three years now. Drew and Ellie have enjoyed an exciting year of music, including the release of a new album produced, in part, by the group’s own fans.
Thanks to a company called Kickstarter, fans were able to donate funds to see the album come to fruition. Staying in close touch with fans became even more imperative with such an endeavor. The new stationery needed to reflect their updated look, but Taylor knew she would need to retain a good level of recognizability for their long-time fans. She gave prominent placement to the photo and tied in a subtle swirl texture in the background for a little extra visual interest. The final aesthetic is contemporary, understated and relaxed. Best wishes on the road, Drew and Ellie…
Client: W.O. Smith Music School
Emma Designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design Level: Concierge Design
The W.O. Smith Music School has transformed the lives of an entire community of children in greater Nashville, and we could not be prouder to be affiliated with this fabulous non-profit. W.O. Smith is a music school whose volunteer staff is made up of musicians who donate their time and efforts so that underprivileged children can get world-class musical instruction for just 50¢ per lesson.
They requested a clean and simple design, so Elizabeth took their carefully branded logo and drew the prominent red and black colors from the website. The minimalism of the design strikes a good balance with the boldness of their brand colors and also allows the content area to shine on its own. Here’s to many more years of shaping lives through the power of music education!
If you would like to request your own Concierge Design stationery, head over to our online form. Not yet an Emma customer? Come say hi!
Until next time … love, hugs and treble clefs from your Emma design team.
Stationery Suite showcase
As the seasons come and go, I am always reminded of the diversity of needs they usher in: Now, for instance, it’s warmer clothing, stronger caffeine and all things pumpkin. Of course, effective and dynamic marketing is essential year-round, but each season brings a new opportunity to extend existing branding — and our Stationery Suite is a great way to deliver your important messages dressed in timely design.
Earlier this year, we introduced the Stationery Suite as a trio of designs that share a consistent visual concept, although each individual template has its own seasonal look. Many of our fabulous clients, however, have found other creative ways to make the Suite work for them, beyond the seasonal variety. Some divide up the Suite into audience groups, divisions of the company or types of email campaigns. Let’s take a look at some recent examples to see how the Emma community is putting the Suite to use.
Client: Talent Resources
Emma designer: Jessica Peoples
Design level: Stationery Suite
The folks at Talent Resources, a boutique marketing agency, pride themselves on being out-of-the-box thinkers. Boasting clients such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Ferrari, they concentrate whole-heartedly on consistent branding with personality. Their newsletter, especially, is where they can connect with their readers on a less formal, more personal level. They wanted something that would exude fun while remaining modern and fresh. They already had a strong brand identity in place, complete with a special color scheme associated with each division of the company.
So Jessica created one design inspired by their slogan (“Connect the Dots”) and existing dot motif, and adapted the other two designs from there. Because of the consistency in design, readers are sure to recognize the familiar branding and respond confidently to the content of the campaign. Talent Resources were so pleased with the results that they moved forward with custom sign-up screens as well!
Client: Innovative Solutions Insurance Services, LLC
Emma designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Stationery Suite
Lisa came to us in need of a professional and sharp set of designs for her company, Innovative Solutions. The stationery needed to be consistent with their website, and it’s certainly important for an insurance company to maintain a high standard of professionalism in all aspects of their business, including design.
However, Lisa also wanted to show a bit of character, and asked Taylor to take some liberties. Allowing for three variations with three separate color schemes, ISIS now has the freedom to provide a bit of variety to their regular mailings. Each color choice complements their website, so there’s a seamless transition from campaign to site when the reader clicks through to view it which, of course, confirms the visual identity and subtly fosters a sense of trust.
Client: Skinsation, LLC
Emma designer: Jimmy Thorn
Design level: Stationery Suite
Skinsation is a medical skin care and aesthetic laser center, and they needed a soothing design that would appeal to their current and future patients. Their target demographic predominantly consists of women, but they didn’t want the design to be so overtly feminine as to exclude men and children.
All three headers adhere to a single design concept, but each one has a different purpose. The variety they were looking for, however, was not an issue of color, but rather the content in the top right corner of their design. “The Skin-E” is a regular newsletter, whereas “Love the Skin You’re In” lends itself more towards product and service promotion. The butterfly header, on the other hand, has a much more playful look and wordlessly communicates the rejuvenation or reinvention of self that Skinsation can help provide. And since it’s not specifically labeled as a certain type of mailing, this version is incredibly flexible and can be used for really any message.
Client: Monticello West Retirement Community
Emma designer: Kelly McClain
Design level: Stationery Suite
After updating the website, Kristen was eager to set up her company, the Monticello West Retirement Community, with some snazzy stationery designs. The Monticello West is a vibrant home for senior citizens that goes way beyond just housing; in their 30 years of operation, they’ve mastered the art of caring for people in a relaxing and invigorating environment. They stand on pillars of dignity and respect when caring for the residents to create an atmosphere of gracious living.
You can imagine that effective marketing is key to the success of such a facility. The goal was to target potential residents, current residents and their families, and the community at large, so Kristen asked for a Suite of stationery with different color schemes and images that reflect the activity and vibrancy of Monticello West residents. Kelly took the materials provided and knit together three beautiful stationery options, each of which could be used for any of the target audiences while providing just enough range to spice up regular mailings. Here’s to you, Monticello West!
Could the Stationery Suite be right for you? If you’re already an Emma client, you can request yours here. If you have yet to get started, please say hi!
Until next time,
Your Emma Design Team
August design showcase: sampler edition
Welcome back, fellow lovers of style. With summer winding to a close, we’re reflecting on some of our favorite stationery creations of the season. Each of these completely custom Concierge Designs achieves a perfect balance of client concept and designer imagination. Let’s get started, shall we?
Client: Riverbank Arts Centre
Emma designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design level: Concierge Design
Located in Ireland, the Riverbank Arts Centre is a venue dedicated to film, theater, music and workshops for children. Riverbank came to Emma with a unique illustration-themed website in place that changes regularly depending on the season. Their goal, however, was to create a stationery that drew in elements of each illustration without creating a season-specific design. Elizabeth pulled several elements from the website, including a watermark-style image of animated characters to echo the audience in the footer. The result is a seamless connection to the Riverbank brand that they can use confidently all year long.
Client: Sagra
Emma designer: Jennifer Kasdorf
Design level: Concierge Design
Sagra is one of Austin’s premiere Italian restaurants. Their atmosphere is as important to them as the quality of the food – and that’s saying a lot! The menu is fashioned after the bistro-style meals served in Italian railway stations, and they wanted their email campaigns to match their existing branding. Jennifer based the design on their logo and added a darker texture to give an antique sensibility to the header. Its simple, logo-focused design is flexible enough for a quick message (such as their welcome trigger mailing) or a longer newsletter featuring images of their tasty offerings.
Client: Crystal Jones
Emma designer: Kelly McClain
Design level: Concierge Design
Crystal Jones is a talented photographer from Sacramento, California, who described her website as simple, clean and modern with a hint of whimsy. She loves her logo, but she wanted something a little bit playful added to the stationery. Though she couldn’t pinpoint the exact element she wanted, she provided Kelly with links to other websites that accomplish that special something. Kelly chose to add concentric circles for a Méliès-style wave effect, plus some subtle texturing in the header background to add depth.
Company: Agent06
Emma designer: Jessica Peoples
Design level: Concierge Design
Angela Barnshaw is the owner and lead listing specialist of Agent 06 in south New Jersey. Having worked with Jessica on stationery in the past, Angela was confident that Jessica was up the task of combining some existing stationery elements with the colors and logo of Keller Williams. The real estate industry is a field that requires a combination of business savvy and hospitality, and that can be challenging to convey. Jessica chose flowers and a scripted font for Angela’s signature. Both elements add warmth, while the Keller Williams and Agent06 names convey the seasoned business experience that’s so important.
It’s been a busy season for our Emma designers, and we look forward to our next opportunity to help you with some stylish stationery.
Until next time … cheers from your entire Emma Design Team.
June design showcase: Studio Design edition
It’s an exciting season for the Emma design team as we roll out Studio Design, our shiny new feature that gives customers a more hands-on approach to their custom stationery. In case you’re wondering … if you opt for Concierge Design, that means our designers will create from-scratch email stationery that extends your brand. With Studio Design, you’ll use an interactive form to choose a style, colors, textures and elements for your designer to implement in your custom design. Think of it as choosing the ingredients for a cake that we’ll be baking just for you!
So this month’s showcase is all about this new design option. With these Studio Design examples, you can see the final version of the stationery, as well as the shapes, textures and elements that each client selected from the interactive form. A texture is typically the overall background component that will blend into the entire header image, while an element is more of an accent image. Combined with a logo, they make a stationery header. We thought you might like to see these textures and elements at work, paired with the final header design.
Client: Neuhaus Foot and Ankle
Emma designer:Taylor Schena
Design level: Studio Design
Theme choice: Modern
Our friends at Neuhaus Foot and Ankle wanted to use the colors from their website and implement a structured and professional aesthetic.
After browsing the textures available, they chose a modern texture accented by two modern elements, which Emma designer Jennifer Kasdorf originally created.
Taylor applied Neuhaus’ brand colors to their preferred elements, keeping in mind what we know about the Foveal viewport in email marketing.
The result is a completely custom header that’s consistent with current Neuhaus branding.
Client: Simply Taken
Emma designer: Jennifer Kasdorf
Design level: Studio Design
Theme choice: Fancy
Simply Taken is Staci Pruitt’s photography business, which primarily serves the NATO and military community based in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Her website is squared off and clean, with just a few subtle embellishments. When the time came to create stationery, she wanted the same aesthetic.
She choose sharp corners and a handful of elements from the “Fancy” category, designed by Jessica Peoples (formerly Jessica Saling – congratulations, Jess!).
Jennifer took the time to really familiarize herself with Staci’s product and crafted a lovely design that successfully mimics the Simply Taken website.
Client:Joy Along the Journey
Emma designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Studio Design
Theme choice: Floral
You can imagine how important it was for Karen from Joy along the Journey, a hospitality network, to express a sense of welcome in her brand stationery.
She chose floral elements, created by Jessica Peoples, to communicate that openness and also to maintain consistency with the Joy Along the Journey logo.
Taylor found a great shade of blue to use from the network’s website and carefully worked in the floral elements. When Karen ended up changing her mind about her element selection, Taylor, of course, made the revision. As part of the Studio Design process, you chose the components, and your designer is happy to make essential changes until the product is something everyone’s proud of.
Client: Heaven on Earth
Emma designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Studio Design
Theme choice: Floral
Taylor’s had a busy month, hasn’t she? For this Studio Design, she built a custom header for Heaven on Earth, Rachel Bolden-Kramer’s yoga practice, which strives to foster connections and community through customized plans.
Rachel opted for one floral element and one floral texture, both of which were created by our Denver-based designer, Leigh Bernstein. Taylor saw Rachel’s vision right away and chose to accent the tree graphic, while making the fern image a more subtle part of the background.
The final product is soothing and uplifting: heaven on Earth, indeed!
Cheers,
Your Emma Design Team
April Design Showcase: Denver Edition
For our next installment of the Design Showcase, it is our distinct privilege to highlight a few cool companies in Denver, Colorado. The Mile-High City is not only the home of the Rocky Mountains, the Broncos and breweries galore, but it’s also home to an Emma satellite office and, more specifically, Emma designer extraordinaire Leigh Bernstein.
Leigh has the opportunity to work with some truly great companies based in Denver, so we’re taking a peek at what sets them apart as stand-out folks and email marketers.
Client: The Children’s Museum of Denver
Emma designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design level: Concierge Design
The Children’s Museum of Denver is a wonderful non-profit organization that asked Leigh to create something simple, but with distinct touches of their playful branding. For the header, she used bright colors and the signature bee from their website, and she included warm elements such as the ants and grass at the bottom of the design. Thanks to our friends at the museum for letting us play a role in their goal of teaching through play.
Client: Kiwi Activewear
Emma designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design level: Concierge Design
Kiwi Activewear is a small, spunky company made up of busy moms who see the importance of streamlining one’s life and wardrobe. They depend on online sales and in-person trunk shows, so Sonya Peterson requested a whimsical design that would help them reach out to their customers effectively.
Leigh made the most of a decorative border that allows their campaign content to shine. The border works from one mailing to the next, regardless of the amount of content they wish to highlight.
Why does it work so well? The straight lines at the center allow for expansion. The design delighted Sonya and is a great representation of Kiwi.
Client: Impossible
Emma designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design level: Concierge Design
Located in the heart of Denver, the folks at Impossible spend their days using live action, design and visual effects to get brands noticed on television.
They love their website and with good reason: They’ve created a sleek aesthetic with their logo, and Leigh’s goal was simply to make it translate easily into the custom stationery.
Leigh accomplished their desired look by employing a blue-to-black gradient, which fades in to a solid color halfway down to maximize flexibility.
The folks at Impossible love the design and have even been known to meet up with our Emma friends in Denver. My, how nice to be neighbors!
Client: Colorado AMA
Emma designer: Leigh Bernstein
Design level: Concierge Design
The American Marketing Association is the world’s largest professional society of marketers, so you can imagine how we got excited to work with folks who love the whole of marketing as much as we do.
The Colorado branch of this amazing organization asked Leigh to take creative freedom without straying too far from their website.
She kept the logo prominent and added the eye-catching element of the newspapers to the header graphic. It maintains a simple look while staying close to the branding of the nationwide association.
Until next time … hugs, brand extension and crisp mountain air from your entire Emma design team.
March design showcase: from tacos to traveling
This design showcase launches a new category on the Emma blog – each month, our design crew will present their latest and greatest hits. In this edition, we look at how a slew of businesses are highlighting their brand in their email campaigns through their new Emma stationery. We love seeing how our customers build trust in their brand with custom email design that either mirrors or extends the design of their website and other materials, and these four examples show the value of doing exactly that.
Client: Taco Mamacita
Emma designer: Taylor Schena
Design level: Concierge Design
Our new Nashville neighbor, Taco Mamacita came to us interested in extending their current branding while maintaining a simple aesthetic.
They wanted the content of their campaigns to complement the design of the stationery itself. So Taylor designed vibrant stationery for this local “funky-fusion taco joint” that showcases the company’s memorable logo.
Client:Sweat and the City
Emma designer: Lauren Johnston
Design level: Concierge Design
Sweat and the City, a health and fitness company based in San Diego, has an eye on the future … the future of their website, that is. We like that they support every level of athlete, and their dedication to philanthropy is the cherry on top.
They asked for a scrapbook feel, so Lauren designed with that style in mind.
To maximize deliverability, Lauren steered clear of a background image and used the space above the footer for some rich texture.
Client: Gray Photography
Emma designer: Elizabeth Williams
Design level: Concierge Design
Meet the spunky husband-and-wife team of world-class photographers who call themselves Gray Photography.
This duo lives in Nashville, too, and they inspired us.
Elizabeth knew that they wanted to maintain the edgy feel of their site while adding a more personal touch to the email stationery design.
By incorporating the personable-looking signatures of both of their names as well as texture above the footer, Elizabeth added warmth in a tailored way.
Client: TQ Adventures
Emma designer: Jimmy Thorn
Design level: Concierge Design
TQ Adventures made us want to take a field trip. They take folks on excursions that range from golfing to salt-water fishing and help create memories to last a lifetime.
Naturally, we wanted to provide them with stationery that would tell a story.
Jimmy created a rustic look that conjures the Wild West by yellowing out some images to make them appear antiqued. He also added a subtle wood texture that creates interest without distracting from the focal point: the logo.
Let the journey begin, indeed…
Until next time … hugs and brand extension from your entire Emma design team.
Emma is a member of the Email Sender & Provider Coalition and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
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