Note: All the graphics below are vector drawings of iPads and iPhones. The Newsletter images are screenshots placed into the vector graphics below. They are not photoshop images. All the graphics below including the article headers in the Newsletters were made in Adobe Illustrator. In addition I have the ability to design similar graphics like these images below in Adobe Photoshop.
Here is the link to the live adaptive Newsletter:
http://www.sacdt.com/dt/members/newsletter.asp
----------- or -----------
http://www.sacng.com/ng/members/newsletter.asp
I modified this Newsletter template to work with Outlook and Smart phone email clients.
Newsletters:
Goals:
When I started working at the Seattle Athletic Clubs (SAC) and I created my first set of newsletters, I quickly realized what my first major set of goals would be for the SAC. The first was to bring consistency in branding between the two clubs with the newsletters. That being said, I worked out the logo placement, color scheme of the newsletters, as well as the size of the templates themselves, as well as defining fonts. The second goal was expansive – making the newsletter templates adaptive to mobile devices and Microsoft Outlook. This was a necessary step towards accessibility to the content. My third, and longest-term goal is to narrow the content to fit with in more standard email practices.
Role:
My role with the Newsletters has been as both web designer and editor. My co-workers send me their written articles, then I format those articles with three different categories in mind -- club events and promotions, health related, or inspirational articles. Using this category guide determines the placement of articles and how I publish them on the SAC’s blog.
Process:
I start with the editing of each article. I do this by breaking out the two newsletters into two different Google word documents – one for each club. This helps me keep track of the editing process in a more efficient manner rather than the chaos of the 15 original documents from both clubs. With the ease of Google documents I can tell who has edited which document and when that task was completed. Then I move on to the graphics of the newsletters where I design all the header graphics for the articles. I also place all the pictures and any related graphics in the newsletters as well. Finally, I update the HTML and CSS coding and paste in all the body text and graphic headers links. After the final approvals I send out and post the newsletters to our websites.
Why I choose this Solution:
I choose this solution to meet two pressing needs. The first is to provide the members of the Seattle Athletic Clubs with the latest news on programing and SAC events. The second is to conform to the new SAC website visual ID system. This recurring project has allowed me to gain knowledge in designing and maintaining newsletters, and, more specifically, how HTML emails and E-newsletters work. For example, bulleted lists don’t really work in Outlook nor do table of content links. If they are in an adaptive newsletter template the table of contents will not work in mobile email clients. These newsletters have helped shape my understanding of teamwork and workload management. They have influenced my understanding of project management and the tools associated with it like Google documents. I am grateful for that insight and experience.
