In 2022, I spearheaded the redesign of the Ravinia newsletter to align with our newly updated visual brand. This project became an opportunity to reimagine our entire newsletter strategy, integrating it more effectively with our overall content approach, including social media and our online blog.
I began by conducting a comprehensive review of past newsletters to identify successful elements, which guided our new strategy. After several iterations and internal feedback during the wireframe stage, I moved on to template creation.
While extremely robust, the email design tool in our ESP limited our layout options somewhat. To overcome these limitations, I learned MJML—a powerful email framework language— to create a custom, editable template. This approach ensured cross-client compatibility and reliable mobile responsiveness. I’m proud of how my skills in HTML, CSS and MJML allowed us to not be limited by our current tools.
Along with this redesign I advocated for a streamlined content strategy, focusing on shorter newsletters with concise content. This shift significantly enhanced user engagement by delivering more focused messaging. Additionally, we strategically utilized social media and our blog to maintain visibility for the numerous initiatives happening throughout the year. Initially met with some hesitation, stakeholders were ultimately pleased with the results, as the redesign ultimately led to higher open rates and increased engagement and sales.
For reference here is an example of our newsletter before the updated Ravinia brand and new template.
