April Edwards, lead Digital Strategist + Designer + Owner of { ae } Design Co. walks you through the basic principles of positioning, creating engaging, goal-oriented designs, establishing brand guidelines for consistency and efficiency, email marketing fundamentals and helpful resources to help you truly nail your next project!

1. Branding, Design &
Email Marketing Basics
APRIL EDWARDS
Digital Strategist + Designer + Owner

2. HELLO!
I’M APRIL EDWARDS
Digital Strategist + Designer + Owner
……………………………………………

3. A LIT’ HISTORY

4. Bachelor of Fine Arts
in Illustration
+
Minor in Technology Integrated
Media Arts
Education:

5. Experience…
Animated emoticons & avatars for MSN Messenger.
Designed packaging, displays and managed Bonne Bell
& Lip Smackers digital efforts.
Served as the creative director to a reputable niche
insurance company.
Moved to San Diego where I subcontracted as a
Flash Animator, Web Designer & Email Marketer
for various marketing and digital agencies.

6. Like to help people so they can get back to doing the
things they love the most.
Started { ae } Design Co. to provide growing businesses
clarity and a stronger foundation with modern
websites that they can easily manage on their own.
We also provide the training, tools and support they
need to better reach their customers and to market
smarter.
Company…

7. Recently relocated our office to beautiful Carlsbad
(full of sunshine, motivation and inspiration) where
I’m looking forward to being an active roll in the
success of local businesses.
And…being here today is my first step to paying it
forward in my professional life. THANK YOU!
Today…

8. WHAT ARE WE
DOING HERE?

9. • PART 1: Branding Basics
• PART 2: Tips for Creating Stand-Out Designs
• WORKSHEET: Strategic Design
• PART 3: Email Communications Made Easy
• Helpful Resources
• Q & A
• One-on-one Knowledge Bar
The Master Plan…

10. PART 1:
BRANDING BASICS

11. Positioning
You need to be clear so your audience is too!
Understand how you serve your audience differently
and what is unique about you.
Speak (write) in a tone that will reflect your
organization’s personality.

12. Visual Representation...
Choose a few words that represent the essence of
your organization.
Use these words to guide the look & feel
Create a Brand Guideline or simple Mood Board:
Define the fonts and colors you will use for headlines,
main copy, calls-to-action and graphical treatments
you’ll use

13. t: 760.814.1851 | e: april@aedesignco.com | w: www.aedesignco.com
The mood board is created to keep the initial design conceptualization focused on the individual
elements rather than layout. We’ll explain our vision for the site and discuss color and font usage
in relation to your branding and goals, etc. After we have established the overall mood or look
and feel of the site, we will paint the wireframes with these styles for final protoype approval.
{ ae } Design Co. Mood Board12/23/15 | VERSION 1
ae{ {Design Co.
S T R AT E G Y � D E S I G N � T E C H N O L O G Y
SURA HEADLINE
BUTTONS
MAIN COLORS
ACCENT COLORS
TYPOGRAPHY
GRAPHICS
Sura Subheadline
Lato body font ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec link style in
quam maximus, sed convallis nisi volutpat. Sed
sed scelerisque est.
NORMAL
04A0B9 3E2210 FAFAFA 60C1D3 95DEE8
HOVER

14. PART 2: TIPS FOR
CREATING STAND-
OUT DESIGNS

15. Design Basics…
The most effective designs have…
1. Have balance between elements
2. Keep the most important information in the spotlight
3. Use white space/ negative well
You can do this by emphasizing focal points with:
1. Use of color
2. Graphic treatment
3. Scale.

16. Composition/ Layout…
Use grids & guides to properly align elements. This
will keep your designs clean and enjoyable to look at.
Look at your composition by squinting your eyes. If
everything is blending together, then re-adjust for
more interest.
If using columns in your layouts, try to use justified
paragraphs for a distraction free design.

17. Scannable Content…
Always make content scannable by breaking it up
with headlines and sub-headlines. It will actually help
you keep your copy focused as well!
Think in terms of main content and then secondary.
Use white space as a design element. It should frame
and seperate content. The less crammed things are the
easier it is to read.

18. Typography…
Headlines should be bold and large sometimes with
more letter spacing (kerning). My general rule of
thumb is that they are 2x larger than the main copy.
Keep main body fonts simple. When all else fails go
with Arial or Helvetica and leave the creative touches
for the headlines and textures.
Calls-to-actions should be treated differently so it is
very apparent what your audience is to do next.

19. The Skool 2/25/16
http://theskoolrocks.com/
Image provided by
http://shutterstock.com

20. Inspiration Bucket…
Always be on the prowl! Fill your inspiration bucket
by skimming through magazines, critique the mail you
receive (email too). Take screens shots or save pins on
Pinterest to reference later. Pick people to follow and
see what they’re up to.
Follow your competition or others in your industry
that you admire.

21. PART 3:
WORKSHEET:
DESIGN GUIDELINE

22. Download Worksheet Here:
http://www.aedesignco.com/worksheet

23. PART 4: EMAIL
COMMUNICATIONS
MADE EASY

24. Layout…
Make sure your copy flows well from subject to
preview text to main headline.
Sidebars are extremely difficult for people to read on
mobile devices.
Think “sections” within your content to help seperate
content areas and make it more scannable and
enjoyable to read

25. Call-To-Action…
Newsletters are great to keep your audience informed
and up-to-date with everything going on, but don’t
forget to have a main call-to-action on them as well
preferably at the bottom in a large colored block as a
secondary element, i.e. "Giving Goals: We’re on our way!
Help us help others by giving today.”
End with clear contact information including other
ways to connect, i.e. email, address, social accounts.

26. Xero 2/25/16
https://www.xero.com/

27. Mobile Friendly…
Use images @2x the actual size you want and scale
them with CSS so they look crisp on retina displays.
Your logo should look crisp scaled down to 280px wide.
Always use text when possible. Its crisper and easier
to read on mobile devices since it reformats for the
width

28. Test. Test. Test…
Use inbox previews to ensure proper rendering on the
main email clients your list uses. MailChimp has this
feature built in and its quite impressive.

29. Subscribers…
Make it extremely easy for people to subscribe to your list. People
may just not be ready yet and are looking for more information
before they are comfortable.
1. Clear sign up form on website
2. Add “Forward to a Friend” and “Join our Mailing List" links on
your emails to attract others that may have not received it directly.
3. Create a sign up form on your social media accounts
4. Add a link in your email signature asking to join your list
5. Have an iPad or collect email address manually at events

30. Highridge Church 2/25/16
http://www.highridgechurch.com/

31. Litmus 2/25/16
https://litmus.com/
Set yourself apart in your
communications by adding a
personal touch (and photo too)!
Taking a few minutes to welcome
subscribers to your list in this way
will make a lasting impression.

32. SUMMARY

33. 1. Know your positioning.
2. Use brand style guidelines.
3. Build your resource bank.
4. Explore!

34. RESOURCES

35. Learning
• Lynda
• Treehouse
Industry Related
• AIGA
• HOW Design
Typography
• Google Fonts
• What Da Font
• Adobe Type Kit
• Font Awesome
Stock Photography & Graphics
• iStock
• Stocksy
• Subtle Patterns
Color
• Adobe Kuler
• Colour Lovers
Email Marketing
• MailChimp
• Litmus
Website
• Squarespace
• Wordpress
• Beaver Builder
• Genesis
Hosting
• Flywheel (Managed Wordpress)
• GoDaddy (Affordable Shared Hosting)
Analytics
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
{ ae } Design Co.
• Download worksheet
• Sign up for emails
• Get consultation

36. ? ? Q & A ? ?

37. KNOWLEDGE BAR