An email newsletter is a great way to simultaneously accomplish two important marketing goals. On the one hand it’s a way to keep your current clients or customer base informed of your services and products. If the content in your newsletter is informative and of value it’s also a great way to attract the interest of new contacts. If you can get an existing subscriber to share your newsletter with friends you now have the attention of potential new customers or clients. So how do you get someone to share your newsletter?

Make sharing easy for your recipients

The best way to encourage sharing is to make it easy. We need to give recipients the ability to share your email with just a couple of clicks. You’ve probably already noticed that in most email campaigns there is usually a link somewhere on the page that allows you to forward to a friend. This is a good method for encouraging people to share your newsletter. It’s a standard feature available from most email campaign services. However, what if there was a much easier way to let your recipients share your newsletter with dozens or perhaps hundreds of friends? This is where we can put the power of social media to work.

Campaign Monitor is my favorite email service and the one I use with my clients. Campaign Monitor makes it very easy for me to create links that allows a recipient to share an online version of your email with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. I especially like the fact that Campaign Monitor gives me complete creative control over what these links might look like. The links can be text or they can be custom graphics that I’ve created for you.

Here’s an email that I recently created for Capital Management Associates. It features a side bar near the top of the email in which I’ve added prominently placed sharing links.

Track the results

Once your campaign has been sent you can now log in to an account I’ve set up for you on Campaign Monitor and track the results. You can watch in real time as recipients click the Facebook Like button or tweet about your email.

This one is going to get filed in the “Just for Fun” category but I’m still proud of the logo and uniforms I designed for a local cycling club. Having never designed a uniform of any sort in my entire life, I was a bit skeptical that I could actually produce something that could be worn in public. I’m perfectly comfortable designing for 2 dimensions but trying to visualize how something will look when wrapped around a human body is a different challenge. I surprised myself and I think they came out looking pretty nice!

Fitting in to this thing? That’s a different story. Sheesh…can I exhale now. Time to hit the treadmill.

Outdoor Gear Lab is a brand new company founded by Chris McNamara, the creator of SuperTopo. The OutdoorGearLab mission is to create world’s best outdoor gear reviews. Each product is put through a set of real world field tests. The result is side-by-side comparative reviews designed to aid a potential buyer faced with overwhelming choices.

Logo development requires many different areas of design focus. Color, typography and illustration all demand attention. However, I think the single most important criteria is an understanding of the business in question. What does the business actually do and how can this be refelected visually? In this case I kept coming back to the concepts of “testing” and “outdoors”. I knew that I wanted to somehow combine these two subjects in an engaging visual symbol. The word “Lab” made me instantly think of a glass beaker. I’m sure there are other companies with “Lab” in their name that also use a beaker as a visual reference. However, I needed to somehow combine this idea with a connection to the outdoors. I wanted to do something a bit different. I wanted to drop a mountain range in to the beaker! My attention shifted to what this might look like.

Once I had a beaker element that I was happy with I began the task of pairing it with typography. I experimented with dozens of different font faces in an effort to find something that felt contemporary and yet friendly and approachable.

None of these initial variations were quite right. Eventually I found a font face on Veer.com called LFT Etica that had the character the client was looking for. Some additional design elements were added in order to pull everything together as a cohesive whole.

The Cooperative of American Physicians recently hired me to develop the visual design for a new email promoting their Risk E-Notes newsletter.

In the process of designing an HTML email I frequently incorporate images. However, I’m also very conscientious of what the email will look like if it arrives in an inbox with images turned off or temporarily disabled. I make a concerted effort to make sure that all headers, body text and call to actions are rendered as HTML and typically let images work in a secondary supporting role. This email design was no different. Images were important ingredients but I carefully aligned elements in such a way that all text could be rendered as HTML.

I used Campaign Monitor’s testing service to produce screen shots of the email as it would look in a variety of major email applications. I double and triple checked that the email would look consistent across all applications. Everything worked great until we noticed that tables blew up when the email file was moved from one Outlook folder to another.

We were faced with a decision that occurs frequently in email design. Redesign the email using a simplified layout or convert the entire top portion of the email to a single image in order to maintain design consistency.

Email design best practices tend to embrace developing for the lowest common denominator and we’ve all been told to avoid heavy images and concentrate on legible and consistent text display. This is great advice but there is a reason companies like Apple Computer often still send emails that consist of little more than one large static image. Sometimes image is still king. There’s a chance that a large image at the top of your email will mean a small percentage of recipients delete the email before taking the time to display images. However, perhaps the greater fear should be that a vast majority of recipients receiving a dull and inspired looking email. If you believe your message and/or promotion works best with a large engaging image that just might be the correct design solution.

I’ve managed to sell my business people icon sets many times over but I rarely get to ever see how they’re being used. My wife found an email from Taleo in her inbox this morning that show cases examples of both my vector and 3D illustrations effectively combined in a single campaign.

Here’s a gallery of past work as well as a summary of some of the challenges that are unique to email design.

HTML emails are strange little beasts both in terms of visual design standards and HTML requirements.

Email Design Standards

Email design often tends to parallel direct mail campaigns both in terms of visual design and strategy. An email design needs to be concise and informative while promoting a clear call to action. Because we want to avoid any horizontal scrolling, a restricted width of 600 pixels is usually advisable. In addition to this challenges of limited visual real-estate we must recognize that people don’t read an email in the same manner that they might browse the web. An unrequested email is going to be scanned and moved to the trash unless you can instantly engage your audience. Information needs to organized with in a relatively small space with thought given to visual hierarchy. Decide ahead of time what is the most important element that should be seen first and what is secondary.

Copy is King

One could argue that message should always drive visual design in any form of marketing collateral but I think this is especially true of emails. I don’t believe in simply creating a design that looks nice and then dropping in copy. I frequently work directly with a copy writer when developing an email and believe it’s my job to visually articulate their message. One of the best email copy writers around is Ivan Levison. he wrote the copy in most of the samples you see above. You can find Ivan’s website at www.levison.com.

Email Production Requirements

Design consistency is what I strive for when producing an HTML email. I want the email to look exactly as I intended when someone opens it on the other end. Although one would think that producing an HTML email is similar to creating a web page, a scaled down approach is required. Your recipient could be using one of dozens of email applications or online services to view your email. They could be viewing it on a computer, mobile phone or tablet device. In order to keep an email design consistent across all of these different applications and platforms we have to abandon most of the more sophisticated CSS layout techniques used to develop current web sites and pretend that we are writing HTML back in the early 1990s. For example, we use table cells instead of div tags and all styles need to be defined inline. Rather than thinking of email production as an after thought to the design process it’s crucial to keep these limitations in mind when developing a design.

An excellent overview of email design guidelines can be found on the CampaignMonitor website here.

Facebook recently announced that they will be gradually phasing out the “Share” button. The “Like” button will takeover as the primary call to action for all content sharing on Facebook. Sure enough you’re starting to see it everywhere. You’ll notice that it’s even at the top and bottom of this very blog post.

Love it or hate it, Facebook is here to stay. If it hasn’t happened already, there is certainly a good chance that sometime soon a prospective client or customer will get their very first impression of your company by arriving at your company Facebook page rather than your primary website. If you’re like many businesses this might be a scary thought. It doesn’t have to be. With some fairly simple graphic design work I can extend your established visual identity to your Facebook page.

I’ve recently made some modifications to my Facebook page that will serve as examples of some changes that can enhance the visual clarity and effectiveness of your own company profile page.

Let’s take a closer look.

Page Design

Facebook already makes it easy for you to add a logo and basic description of your business. You can also add photos and posts but this means that all of your content is presented as just a collection of image folders and a stream of status updates. That’s fine for dynamic content but it’s not the most elegant way to summarize your business. However, by adding a simple app to your page called Static FBML, we can customize content using standard HTML and CSS. This method gives us the freedom to approach page design much as we would when developing from scratch for your primary web site. Granted we don’t have quite as much real estate to work with but a 520px wide column is sufficient for creating something along the lines of a mini-landing page. I tend to think that on a Facebook page we need to engage your visitor and summarize your services in a more streamlined fashion. I can work with you to develop graphic content that is true to your company identity while also working seamlessly with in the surrounding Facebook page design. If a goal of your Facebook page is to drive traffic to your primary site we can include a prominent call to action or a collection of quick links that will send visitors to target channels.

Navigation Options

The new Facebook company profile design organizes page content in to categories that can be navigated with tabs in the left column of your page. Here you’ll find default Facebook items such as Wall, Info, Photos, etc. We can turn on or off most of these categories. The Static FBML app allows us to go one step further and add additional tabs of your choice.(see fig1 below)

In the case of my own page I’ve opted to add just a single new category to the left column. However, with in this new page I’ve built my own custom navigation tabs using HTML.(see fig2 below).

Extras

Contact Form: We can easily incorporate your email address or phone number as a prominent call to action but we could also go one step further and include a contact form that will direct messages to your Facebook account.

Slideshow: If you’re interested in serving a collection of images we can integrate a slideshow that pulls images from your Flickr account or other popular photo hosts.

RevealTab: I have not implemented this feature myself but if you have some type of applicable promotional content a reveal tab is a great way to entice visitors to learn a bit more about you. We would a tab to your page with content that is initially hidden from first time visitors. This hidden page becomes visible only after one has clicked on the “Like” button and opted to follow your company posts. Imagine language that says something like “Become a fan and get access to our recently published newsletter”.

Conclusion

I don’t think a great looking Facebook page is going to make or break your business. However, it is undeniable that social networking platforms such as Facebook offer a great way for you to connect with existing and prospective customers. If you have already established or are thinking about creating a Facebook page, it only makes sense to approach the visual design of such a page with the same care that you would apply to any other marketing channel.

You can view my Facebook page here. Feel free to poke around and click the “Like” button.

Along the Kona coast of Hawaii’s Big Island is a world famous dive site called Garden Eel Cove, where huge Manta Rays routinely come in to feed on krill in 50ft of water not far from shore. At this particular site the party doesn’t start until after the sun goes down. Natural feeding behavior has been further encouraged by local dive operators who now come to this site each evening and plant a few dive lights on the rocky bottom. These lights attract krill and other tiny planktonic species which in turn attract the peaceful giants. Decades ago mantas acquired the name “devilfish”. Their massive size and bat shape suggested menace. That changed in the 1970s, when scuba divers found mantas to be gentle creatures. There are more than 70 known Manta Rays in Kona and all have names and can be identified by unique spot patterns on their underside.

When my family opted to visit the Big Island on vacation this summer, I knew I’d have to check out this dive. To be honest I didn’t have super high expectations. Due to its popularity, I imagined crowds of ungainly two legged neoprene clad creatures dominating the underwater landscape. My expectations were to some extent right on the money. It is indeed a circus atmoshephere. On the day I dove this location there were at least six other dive boats that showed up at dusk. Many of these boats unleash not just divers but teams of snorkerlers. The divers huddle on the bottom around an underwater halogen powered campfire of sorts and snorkelers float above. Everyone has a primary torch in addition to multi-color locator lights on tanks, boats and supporting equipment. It looks a bit like an underwater Las Vegas. In between the divers and snorkelers is 30ft of water column left over for the 12-16ft Mantas that are effortlessly doing vertical loops, barrel rolls and fly bys as they scoop up krill. There is a famous sting ray dive in the Cayman Islands called Sting Ray City. This dive is a bit like Sting Ray City on acid.

To my surprise the surrounding madness did not prevent from being mesmerized by the feature attraction. On some nights no Mantas bother to show up. During our dive we were lucky enough to have 8 full size females show up and put on a show.

Underwater photography is difficult to begin with. Trying to capture large moving animals at night brings the challenge to an entirely new level. As much as possible I wanted to somehow create images that revealed the elegance of these animals and none of the surrounding circus atmosphere. By no means did I do a great job but I had some modest success. I’d love to go back and try again.

What is it like?

I went on YouTube to try and find a video that is representative of the scene and not only found a video from the same night but it was shot by a diver just happened to be sitting next to me on the same boat. Here’s her great video of the dive. It includes footage of a recon dive we did in daylight before the later night dive.

Here’s an award winning photo by Randall Benton that also perfectly captures the experience of shooting Pacific Mantas.

Equipment Used

I used a Nikon D200 in a Light & Motion Titan housing with Sea & Sea YS90DX strobes and a Hartenberger Nano focus light. The focus light is a new addition to my arsenal and was absolutely indispensable. I’m not sure how you could shoot this dive with out a decent focus light.

Operator Used

I dove with Jack’s Dive Locker.

If you already have a system in place for distributing emails I can deliver design assets as properly formatted HTML. If you don’t currently have a method in place for sending email campaigns I can now provide this service. Using online campaign management software I can offer a wide range of powerful tools for distributing and tracking robust email campaigns.

Features and Benefits

Email Testing — Using campaign management software, I can generate screenshots of how your email will look in dozens of different email applications and modify the design as necessary.

Personalized Account Access — Want to send emails yourself? I can easily create private account access that will allow you to send emails based on designs that I’ve already created for you.

Templates — Perhaps you don’t need or want a new design every time you send a campaign. I can create templates unique to your brand that you can edit and send yourself by logging in your secure accoun

Analytics — I can generate reports for each campaign that track opens and clicks as well as related conversions and sales.

List Management — We can create as many unique lists as you need for targeted campaigns. The software I’m using will automatically handle all bounces and spam complaints.

Subscriber Management — Together, we can create a newsletter sign-up process for your business that includes designated landing pages and as well as automatic welcome emails when a subscription is confirmed. We can even take this approach to the next stage and capture subscriber information which can then be used to personalize future emails.

Costs

Email Design:
I invoice design work on an hourly basis. How much time is required will depend entirely on the nature of the email needed as well and the degree to which a visual direction is already established. If you have an established visual identity in place and can supply logo, color palette, style guide, etc. I can quickly turn around an engaging email design. If you’re less sure of the visual elements that need to be incorporated and want to first see a variety of initial mockups the design process will likely require a bit more time. Just send me an email describing the nature of your project. I may have a few questions but with out wasting too much of your valuable time I should be able to prepare an accurate estimate of what will be required.

Email Delivery:
In addition to design cost there is a small deliver fee. To send an email campaign requires a one-time $5. delivery fee as well as 1 cent per recipient. For example:
500 recipients = $10.
1000 recipients = $15.
5000 recipients = $55.

I’m one of those old school hold outs that up until a few weeks ago still had a giant CRT display taking up my entire desk and threatening to collapse it. I put up with the beast as long as I did because it still looked sharper and provided more accurate color than any of the slim and sleek looking LCD displays I had a chance to preview.
I knew there were brands such Eizo that produced LCD monitors suitable for professional graphic design and photography work but I also knew they carried a huge price tag. To be honest, I had finally given up on ever owning one. I thought that perhaps I’d go with an Apple display on my PC.  Yikes! The reviews of Apple displays immediately scared me off. Then I started looking at NEC and LaCie models as legitimate options. I was about to purchase the LaCie324. Then I saw a blog entry on ShootSmarter with the tile “It’s Here.. the PERFECT Monitor!”. Sure enough, they were referring to an Eizo. The Eizo CG 222W. The catch? This model costs $1,300. That might sound expensive if you’re used to standard consumer models but it’s a bargain for a monitor that meets high end benchmarks. With in a few minutes I was on B&H ordering one.

I’ve now been using this display for about a month. It’s awesome! I was initially worried that it might be too small. They call it a 22″. The viewing surface is 18.5 inches wide, and 11.5 inches tall. I’m working at wide-screen resolution of 1680×1050. It’s plenty or real estate for design and photography work. Email and Pandora are perfectly happy living on secondary monitor. Color calibration is easy with the included software. This is the first LCD monitor I’ve owned that gives me confidence I’m working with super accurate color representation. Fine tuning photos in Lightroom no longer feels like a guessing game. Developing color palettes for new design or identity projects is no longer such a daunting task.

If you aren’t a professional designer or photographer I think you’d probably be crazy to spend more than a thousand dollars on a monitor. However, if you make a living working on color critical projects this monitor is a great addition to your work flow.

Here’s the product description on Eizo’s site.