If you’re interested in more ways to reach potential or existing customers, newsletters are an ideal way of sharing current news, tips, products, and services to a large audience. By leveraging print or email newsletters, you can achieve major business goals by increasing revenue or sales, website traffic, brand recognition, and more.
Email marketing and newsletters are crucial components to any business’s marketing strategy, but even a small design mistake can cost you in the long run.
Because creating newsletters may be tricky for non-designers, we’ve compiled an easy and straightforward five-step tutorial to make stunning newsletters in Create that will wow any audience.
Before diving into the newsletter design, it’s crucial to consider which dimensions you’re after and the content of your newsletter. Are you promoting an exclusive sale or event, or are you encouraging viewers to visit your blog?
When working with email newsletters, choose a length that best fits the extent of your content. Industry-standard size for newsletters is 2550 x 3300 pixels, or 8.5 x 11 inches. Alternatively, there are short, medium, and long email size options.
Here’s a look at the different email types you can choose from:
- Short email: 1200 x 1800 pixels
- Medium email: 1200 x 2400 pixels
- Long email: 1200 x 3000 pixels
To find your preferred size, head to the Create webpage and click either Custom size to type in these specs, or scroll to find the exact blank canvas template.
If you’re already in the tool, simply click File > Create new > Blank Canvas and scroll to the Formats category, or search (CTRL or Command + F) “Email” to find these options. Simply select and click to open.
You can also type your specs (if you know them) into the Create custom toolbar. Three ways to get you into the tool, for optimum ease! (You’re welcome.)
A surefire way to jump-start your design journey is to find inspiration from other newsletters. This helps to narrow down the theme in terms of style and appearance. Your newsletter can take on various styles, but it’s crucial that the style matches your brand identity and newsletter’s content.
Also, make sure your target audience is taken into account when thinking about styles and themes. An enterprise business-oriented audience may not respond well to a bright, neon-themed newsletter.
All of the newsletter templates below are professional quality using Create‘s selection of free fonts, shapes, effects, graphics, and eye-catching images.
To get there, simply click File > Create new > Templates and type “email” into the search bar. Scroll to find your favorite, then customize away! For some inspo before you start, check out. . . .
A professional theme is more suitable when presenting a set of news or services to a business-oriented audience or potential client. Take this opportunity to provide the ins and outs of your business, along with its services or products that may benefit the viewer.
As you can see, having a defined color scheme is the way to go. Offer an appealing aesthetic to ensure solid open-rates and engagement. As for the food industry, using appetizing images is a must. Whatever images you include, be strategic.
Be sure to include forms of contact to ensure the viewer has a way to contact your business. These forms of contact include email addresses, phone numbers, or websites. Plus, adding a “Book Now” or “Reserve Your Spot” call-to-action (CTA) is imperative for conversion rates.
Give folks everything they need, all in one place.
Minimalist newsletter designs aim to keep the background elements, typography, and colors simplistic in order to let the content and images take the stage. Stick to three or less colors and keep your fonts to two or less styles to avoid a complex newsletter layout.
Multiple hues and typefaces can overpower the goal of the newsletter.
When designing a more minimalist layout, focus on the essentials: the content, colors, and fonts. Images can be focal points, too, but as you can see here, they’re not even needed! If you don’t have that imagery, emphasize visual hierarchy with big and bold text.
Pair two or three fonts together, then position them in a way that tells a story. Draw the reader’s attention to the most important announcement of all—30% off everything! Sweet.
More creative newsletters utilize a compelling composition of text, images, and shapes while sticking to a coherent color theme. Images may be laid out on a grid-based approach, or a more staggered approach for a trendy look.
Seasons, holidays, special events, oh my! Whatever you’re celebrating, announce your upcoming events with a relevant email template. For all things wardrobe, this is the look for you. An artistic model shot paired with a textured background against a solid color? Meta and tasteful.
The layout of the newsletter remains simplistic, but with a snazzy twist. Instead of just placing elements in your design, think of how they all integrate and work together. Go against the grain and experiment with different images and font pairs.
Step 3: Piece Your Content Together
Now that you’ve seen some inspirational newsletters, it’s time to begin designing! Create hosts multiple editing assets, effects, graphics, textures, and fonts that will take your newsletter to the next level.
Import Images
With its versatility, you can easily upload your own images straight from the desktop, or search through our endless library of royalty-free stock images. Head over to the Images tab to browse, or click Upload to search for your own.
Remember how we mentioned the importance of that central image? To adjust it, simply click the Adjust tab to sharpen, soften, boost, change colors, or fix blemishes.
Now, for the rest of the canvas!
Create Shapes and Layers
To add a shape element, simply click Shapes and select your favorite. Drag to position onto the canvas and adjust size as you see fit.
You can adjust the color by highlighting it, then clicking Change color.
Now is a great time to take advantage of Create’s Eyedropper Tool. It will customize any part of your design with the same color as another part. To use it, click the asset you want to change. Then, go to the Change color tab, select the Eyedropper Tool (next to the hex code box), then drag it to an aspect of the design and release to set!
We used a section of this woman’s arm to customize this brown. We did eventually change it, as you’ll see later on, but every step you take will give you more inspo and direction.
Add Text
A newsletter cannot effectively communicate details without important sections of text. Add headlines and subheadlines to your design by clicking on the Text tool and choosing a text layout or the Add headline button.
Type out important components of your newsletter, such as a title, company name, and other critical pieces of information. The aim of a newsletter is to educate and compile relevant information for viewers, so keep the content clear and concise.
Deciding on a typeface for your newsletter is no easy task. Typography is essential to setting the tone of the newsletter—it’s crucial to match your typeface styles to the theme of the design. Sans serif styles work best for contemporary or minimal designs, while serif styles are suitable for traditional and business-oriented designs.
Script typefaces work well for creative or fashion-oriented newsletters. When working with two or more typefaces, aim for a complete contrast—similar font styles often clash and compete against one another.
For this design, we chose Learning Curve and Quiche Sans. We also added a CTA button by clicking Shapes again and selecting a solid square. We dragged it to make it a rectangle, then changed its color. Click Text > Add headline again or right-click > Duplicate layer from your previously written text boxes to keep your fonts cohesive.
For more on font pairing mastery, be sure to check out this tutorial next:
As social media continues to dominate the internet space, it becomes even more crucial to become active on major social media accounts. Having a social media presence not only drives business and engagement, it also increases customer interaction.
Whether your business focuses on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or YouTube, there’s always an added bonus when focusing your efforts to popular social media platforms.
In Create, you can find all the social icons you need by clicking Graphics > Social Media. Drag each icon to the bottom of the email template, then adjust colors by clicking Change colors. We selected a background texture called Marbled Ink, which informed the social media icon colors.
Once again, we used the Eyedropper Tool to customize each of these icon colors with a pink from the background. Check it out, but prepare yourself, because we really adjusted this design from the previous screenshots.
You never know when that creative flow will hit. For us, in this design, it all came together once we selected the right Marbled Ink texture. From there, we used the Eyedropper Tool to customize the circle with the background blues, the social icons with the background pinks, etc. Neat, huh?
Learn how you can optimize each social media platform and how to create a successful social media toolkit with these helpful posts:
Towards the bottom of your newsletter, you’ll want to attach website links and contact information. These include contact emails or phone numbers, ways to subscribe or unsubscribe, and links to direct the viewer to your website.
Those who receive the newsletter may have questions about a service or product, or they may want to learn more about the content within the newsletter. By providing different ways to contact, viewers can reach out to your business and become more engaged.
That’s it, Creators! Well done. We’re super confident you now have a thorough lay of the land in both email marketing and Create. So, get goin’ and report back! We can’t wait to see the final product.
Interested in more ways to amp up your designs in Create? Check out:
License this cover image mockup via Ground Picture, Vector Image Plus, and paitoon.
