Email Design Tip of the Week

Recorded: Mobile Email Design Webinar

By Chris Studabaker
Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I recently delivered a guest webinar for Litmus about how to approach email programs and email design on mobile devices. The recorded webinar and associated materials are now available on the Litmus blog. The presentation slide deck and a sample of a mobile optimize email we built for the session are also included. We had almost 1,000 registrants, some great content and a lot of interesting questions — please enjoy, and add your questions and comments to the conversation!

Email Design in the Age of the Mobile Inbox
Desktop. Laptop. iPhone. Blackberry. Android. SmartPhone. iPad. Learn how to...Read More »

Mobile Email Design Webinar

By Chris Studabaker
Wednesday, October 20, 2010

On Thursday at 11am EDT join me - Chris Studabaker, Senior Design Consultant - for a special webinar in conjunction with Litmus: Email Design in the Age of the Mobile Inbox.

Desktop. Laptop. iPhone. Blackberry. Android. SmartPhone. iPad. Learn how to start thinking about mobile and email and what you can do to ensure your emails render as you intended. If you're considering building mobile-friendly email campaigns you won't want to miss this.

I'll discuss:

The current state of the industry
Discovering whether you have a mobile audience
Strategic considerations for mobile email design
Tactical...

Design Tip of the Week: Email + Video: Take 2: Connections ’09 Panel Recap, Part 2 (of 2)

By Chris Studabaker
Monday, January 18, 2010

Last post, I discussed current support and delivery methods for email + video. This time we're going to focus on some of the benefits and concerns and finish with a few closing thoughts. As I mentioned last time, please note that this blog centers on the technological considerations around email + video—the strategy around sending video in email (or not) is another discussion!

Benefits of email + video

Strong emotional appeal
Highly engaging
Personal, even user-generated content

Video offers incredible emotional appeal and a personal, highly engaging form of communication. Online video and social...Read More »

Email Design Tip of the Week: Email + Video: Take 2: Connections ’09 Panel Recap, Part 1 (of 2)

By Chris Studabaker
Thursday, January 14, 2010

Video in email is one of the most intriguing hot topics regarding email's technological growth and audience engagement capacity. Current support for the combined use of these mediums is low, but audience interest and advertiser investment in online video—and this type of media convergence—continues to grow. This blog recaps the major points I discussed in the "Email + Video: Take 2" panel at Connections '09. Please note that this blog centers on the technological considerations around email + video—the strategy around sending video in email (or not) is another discussion!

Online video
Online...Read More »

Design Tip of the Week: Links & Text Decoration

By Chris Studabaker
Monday, September 21, 2009

Blue, underlined text = link. It's an internet gold standard. More than that, linking is the fundamental component of hypertext. Over time, web and email users have learned that any underlined text usually means a link, and we've learned to expect other visual clues indicating a link, too. Using text in a navigation bar, changing text color, or highlighting text on mouse hover, for example, can all be used to imply that text is linked to a page or action. When it comes to underlining links (or not) in your email program, the style should match your brand guidelines - or at least mirror the...Read More »

Email Design Tip of the Week: Make Your Life Easier with Productivity Software

By Chris Studabaker
Friday, July 17, 2009

We all work on computers. We use a lot of programs. We use a lot of websites. Heck, we use websites that are programs. In the midst of managing workflows, applications, and the latest versions of those workflows and applications (Do you have the ’03 version? The ’05 update? Wait, which version of that update?) it can be easy to forget that your computer is a tool to help you work! Start taking charge of your experience with the free productivity software suggestions below and remind your computer—and yourself—who’s boss.

1) Text Substitution – Text Expansion/Auto-typing

Text substitution is a...

Email Design Tip of the Week: The Box of Nine

By Chris Studabaker
Monday, June 8, 2009

We’re going to get a bit technical in this blog and talk about the code behind a popular request in email design: “Give me rounded corners!” (The most popular request being, of course, “Make the logo bigger.” But that’s a blog for another day.)

In the ever-changing landscape of designing and coding email, scalability and rendering consistency are key. The box of nine makes rounded corners easy to work with and delivers solid rendering in a variety of inbox situations. The term “box of nine” is a nickname for the nine cell table that lives behind boxes with rounded corners in email design....Read More »