Newsletter & email template design
Newsletter design that
doesn't break in Outlook.
Hand-coded email templates that look the same everywhere, survive dark mode, and let your team put an edition together without asking a designer for help.
Send us your last edition. We'll tell you what's costing you clicks, free.
- Tested in every major email client
- Dark-mode safe
- Installed and ready to send
Is this for you?
You send it every week. It's the least-designed thing you make.
It looks like an internal memo
The default platform template with a logo dropped on top. For a lot of subscribers this is the most frequent contact they have with your brand, and it reads like nobody chose anything.
It falls apart in Outlook
Outlook on Windows renders email with Word's layout engine, which is exactly as fun as it sounds. Flexbox, background images and rounded corners quietly stop working, and a good share of a B2B list sees a collapsed layout.
Dark mode eats your logo
Gmail and Apple Mail invert colours on their own terms. A dark logo on a white background turns into a grey smudge, or disappears completely.
Nobody clicks
One button, buried at the bottom, competing with six other links. Without a clear hierarchy an edition gets skimmed and closed.
What's included
A system your team reuses, not a pretty one-off.
Modular section library
Text, feature, quote, list, product row, event, sponsor and sign-off blocks. Your team assembles an edition instead of designing one from nothing every week.
Tested where it counts
Outlook on Windows and Mac, Gmail web and app, Apple Mail, Yahoo, iOS and Android, light and dark. Rendering proofs come with the handover, not after your first bad send.
Email-safe typography
A web-safe font stack with proper fallbacks, so the layout doesn't collapse when the custom font fails to load. Which, in email, is most of the time.
Built to get clicks, not compliments
Deliberate hierarchy, one primary action per edition, thumb-sized tap targets, and a subject line and preheader written to work with the layout rather than against it.
How it works
From audit to first send in
three weeks.
Short, structured, and built around the way your team already writes.
- 01
Free audit
We read your last ten sends, your open and click patterns, and your ESP setup, then tell you plainly what's costing you opens and clicks. You get it in writing whether or not you hire us.
WEEK 1
- 02
Structure the edition
We define the recurring anatomy. What appears every time, what rotates, where the primary action sits, and how long an edition should actually be.
WEEK 1
- 03
Design the system
Every block designed in light and dark mode, presented as a real edition rather than an abstract kit, so you can judge it the way a subscriber will.
WEEK 2
- 04
Code, test, hand over
Hand-coded HTML, cross-client rendering proofs, installation in your ESP, and a walkthrough so your team can send without asking us first.
WEEK 3
What it costs
Priced per template, per
system, or per send.
Fixed before we start. Pick the shape that fits how often you send.
Single Template
One branded, bulletproof template for a regular send.
- Brand-matched design
- Light and dark mode
- Tested in every major client
- Installed in your ESP
- Ready in about a week
Newsletter System
A modular kit your team composes editions from.
- 10 to 12 reusable section blocks
- Edition anatomy and guidelines
- Subject line and preheader framework
- Rendering proofs and QA checklist
- Recorded team walkthrough
- Ready in two to three weeks
Per-Edition Retainer
You write it. We design, build and ship it.
- Layout and asset production
- Cross-client QA every send
- Performance readout each month
- Recommendations after each send
- Priority turnaround
Questions
What teams ask us about
email.
How much does newsletter design cost?+
Every project is quoted after a short call. Per-edition retainers are available with a monthly minimum. You get a fixed number after a short call.
Which email platforms do you work with?+
Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, Brevo, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign and most others. If your ESP accepts custom HTML, the template will work in it.
Will it render properly in Outlook?+
That's the main engineering problem in email and it's the one we solve. We build with table-based, tested structures rather than modern CSS that Outlook ignores, and every template ships with rendering proofs so you can see it before you send.
How long does it take?+
About a week for a single template, two to three weeks for a full system. We need your last few sends and your brand assets to start.
Do you write the copy too?+
We write the structure. What each section is for, how long it should be, what the subject line has to do. Full copywriting per edition is available on the retainer. Most teams write better about their own business than we can, they just need a shape to write into.
Can you fix our existing newsletter instead of replacing it?+
Often, yes. If the structure is sound and only the design and code need work, we'll quote the smaller job. If the template is fighting you, replacing it costs less than patching it for another year. The free audit tells you which one you have.
Free audit
Send us your last edition.
We'll come back with a written read on structure, rendering, and what to fix first. It's the same audit we'd run if you hired us. No charge and no obligation.
Get a free audit