Designing a reliable email system for Blu Dot

Challenge

Blu Dot had a dysfunctional and inaccessible marketing email system that did not consider mobile devices or dark mode. The system made it difficult to build new emails, train new designers and developers, and streamline processes. The email system provided a poor user experience and produced inadequate business results.

I was asked to create a new email system that could flexibly handle 200+ annual emails that covered different themes, met brand standards, performed well in most relevant email clients such as Outlook, ensured accessibility standards, and was easy to execute.

Solution

After thorough research, I comprised a list of best practices for emails covering design, accessibility, dark mode, mobile view, processes, technical considerations, coding processes, and coding limitations. This list served as a base to make decisions and sell my concepts to the CEO.

From there, I created core components and worked closely with the developers on the test emails in discussing and refining all components. After finalizing the details of the email system, I created a toolkit for designers that considered easy hand-off of files and coding by the developers.

The result was a flexible system that has remained strong after years of usage. The email system made introducing new themes simple and delivered an accessible and on-brand user experience that took dark mode into account. The engagement and click-through rate (CTR) improved noticeably. The new toolkit made email creation, onboarding, and training more efficient for new designers and developers.

Client

Blu Dot

My Role

Design Lead

Services

Email System