Cloud 9 Digital Design ltd » Ash

What size should my emails be?

Ash — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:06:25 +0000

We have been asked a lot about “What size should a email be?” Well you may think that as websites have got wider, due to screen resolutions getting bigger, emails would follow suit. Unfortunately this isn’t the case. Seeing as a website can only be viewed with a web browser, it is easier to know how much space you have to play with. Emails however can be displayed both online and offline, in a multitude of email clients & devices.

You’ve probably also noticed that the majority of email newsletters you receive these days are designed with a fixed width as opposed to a ‘fluid’ layout.

This is because the most email clients and web-based email providers don’t use the full width of your screen to display an email message. Whether it’s advertising on Gmail, a menu in Hotmail or your Inbox in Outlook, a chunk of screen real estate is often already being used.

Remember, your recipients are busy and impatient, so horizontal scroll bars are even more of a no-no in email than a web page. Because of this, it is a good idea to keep your emails to a fixed width of no more than 550-600 pixels. This should ensure that in the majority of cases, your subscribers can view your email as you intended.

What about height?

Obviously the height of each email you send will vary depending on the amount of content. At the same time, it’s good to keep in mind that a lot of your recipients may scan your email in a preview pane before they decide to read the entire thing.

The average preview pane is around 300-500 pixels high, so make sure you include any important bits of your email in this area. First impressions count. A good way to check how your email looks in a variety of email readers is to use ourdesign and spam testing tool, which gives you screenshots of your campaign as it will appear.

We all love a bit of Auto-tuning

Ash — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:42:05 +0000

Our auto-turner is out of action (Mike over used it )

Cookie Monster sang about Google 27 years ago

Ash — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:37:56 +0000

Yes, it came 16 years before Google ever existed and yes, technically the song is about Cookie Monsters googly eyes, but some how it still sorta fits as tribute to the search engine giant.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdRkdvKy5WI

The Google Story

Ash — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:03:02 +0000

We all love Google right? Of course you do. Ever wondered to yourself “Man I wish I could see the history of Google in a really cool animated way. Maybe like a scrapbook style?”.

Well lucky you

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjN5avRvApk

Great Examples of Packaging Design

Ash — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:54:44 +0000

These are some really great examples of how package design should be done. I wish we had more products in our shops that had packaging like this.

Make sure you see the last one in the list!

R Design Studio

Brad Surcey

Visualization of CI

Banana Juice

Equal Exchange

Coke Vintage Packaging

Old times, old times. We really miss packaging like this.

Pepsi Can

Anti-Theft Lunch Bags

Best animation I have seen yet.

Ash — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:22:01 +0000

This must have taken an age to do. Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.

Rube Goldbergesque animated GIF

Ash — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:55:14 +0000

I could stare at this Rube Goldbergesque animated GIF for hours at a time…

Rube Goldbergesque animated GIF

This is the Internet

Ash — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:18:26 +0000

Another good one.

The Crisis of Credit Visualised

Ash — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:36:43 +0000

We have all heard of the dreaded “Credit Crunch” (No it’s not Mr Kellogg’s new cereal, so I’m told), but do you know how we all ended up here? No to be honest neither did I. Simon sent me a link to this today and I thought it explained it all quite well to me & best of all it looks cool too! The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo

Röyksopp – Remind Me

Ash — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:42:22 +0000

After seeing Mike’s post on A beautiful bit of VW Bus animation and it spoke about the Röyksopp Remind Me video. So I thought it best to share it with you, so here it is. Remind Me from Röyksopp on Vimeo.