I know his post is a few years old, but it did have a bunch of useful info. And good info is always worth repeating.

Here’s my use of the wireframe template on a current project.

How great leaders and organizations are able to inspire while others aren’t?

Almost a year ago, a co-worker sent an email out to the rest of the marketing department, at Genworth Financial Wealth Management (GFWM), containing a link to a video on TED, regarding those same questions. It was sent to us to inspire us to think of ideas on what the Why was for GFWM. Great question. GFWM’s tag line was Helping Advisors Build Great Businesses, but that tagline wasn’t really a Why, it was a What. Many people had different ideas on Why, but no one really agreed on one reason.

As the exercise progress, I began to really think and analyze what my Why was. Why do I get out of bed in the morning? Why do I care about doing work or designing?

When I came out of college, I wanted to make a big splash in the creative world. I wanted to be the best designer. That drove me to work my butt off, put in long hours doing research, and refining my technical skills and knowledge. I emulated designers I admired. I had to figure out and understand how influential designers did what they did and how they did it. I received my first opportunity when I started working professionally at the National Football League. I worked with the creative department that had one of the most talented groups of people that I’ve been surrounded with.

As careers go and businesses go, things change and the NFL decided to move the creative department to New York. Afterwards, I freelanced for some time. Then I became a father.

Life certainly changes when you become a father. It’s a great joy and a life changing experience. Freelance wasn’t going to cut it anymore, I needed a little more security and insurance. So I got a job in the marketing department at Genworth Financial Asset Management (GFAM), a smaller B2B business unit within Genworth, that specialized in Unified Managed Accounts (UMA). If you don’t know what that is, it’s okay. Having no prior financial industry experience, it took me awhile to understand how it works. This was before Genworth bought AssetMark and became GFWM.

Now this wasn’t exactly my first choice, nor the industry I wanted to be in. “I wanted to be creative!” “I wanted to make a big splash in the creative world!” But how was I going to be able to be creative in the financial industry? Was it possible? This world was drastically different than the sports entertainment world I had just come from. The job paid well, I got the insurance and, sure, taking care of my family is a great Why. But that’s not what drives me.

After a time within the small GFAM marketing team, I found my way. Genworth’s branding standard at the time, being a relatively young company, was strict, but regardless, I learned to thrive in the financial industry and created innovative ways to reach our clients. I helped introduce and integrate newer technology to help promote GFAM and it’s products. I designed rich applications and helped integrate email marketing. I researched and prototyped a functional Podcast, when podcasting first came out. I found different ways to help the business grow. I actively tried to find ways to create a difference there because I care about my work and my legacy. Working within the strict brand standard, I didn’t always get to design a new concept, but I did find ways to be creative.

Time passed. GFAM integrated with AssetMark. We became GFWM. The marketing team grew from four to over twenty. An email was sent out and we were given task to find our Why. I was part of a branding team that researched and interviewed members of our organization to understand what people thought regarding the core values of our products and our organization. I hate to say it, but I’m not sure if an answer was found. My time with GFWM was coming to an end. My position was being moved to northern California. But I still tried to take care of my work and the people I worked with that depended on me.

Over time, I began to understand myself a little better. I began to understand what drove me and what my own core values were.

When people think about me, there are a few things I would want to come to their minds. Chris is someone I can depend on. Chris is someone who cares. Chris has heart. Chris is patient. Chris is different. Chris is creative.

I create a difference.

I just got my espn magazine and there’s just something about sports and stats that just go hand-in-hand.

This is just beautiful!

Bad pictures from my phone but still beaufitful designs.

UPDATE: Just downloaded the ESPN magazine app on my iPad and noticed that the layout is different. Gives a little more insight on how ESPN produces their publications; print and digital.

Here’s how “Hazard Play” looks from my iPad.

P.S. Ever since I posted this title, I keep on hearing in my head, Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love” in my head, but only switching it out with “Inforgraphic Love.” The rest of the lyrics I don’t know yet.

I read an article about how Moleskine (pronounced “mol-a-skeen-a”) developed and created a successful brand recently on fastcodesign.com. Fascinating article.

“Moleskine is a cultural icon. It is not a simple notebook, and it is not a commodity, but a free platform for creativity.”
– Maria Sebregondi, Head of Brand Equity and Network Relations

Great quote. A great WHY? “…a free platform for creativity.”

Well I just had to try it out. I think I’ve fallen in love. Sorry honey.

http://www.moleskine.com/

Designing and developing for HTML emails is a totally different animal than for web. With web, you have to design keeping in mind that most screen resolution nowadays is 1024×768 and how different browsers and platforms render a site. With email, on top of those items for web, you also have to think about all the different email clients. Certainly Outlook is the most common email client. But then, different releases of Outook render emails differently. In 2007, Microsoft switched render engines from Internet Explorer to Word.  Why? I don’t know. Not fun for most designers to design and develop for.

So does this mean we have to design for the lowest common denomenator? Well, know your audience. Get metrics on what your audience mostly uses. If your current email marketer doesn’t track those metrics, you can look into companies that do, such as Litmus or Campaign Monitor.

So there are some general rules in HTML email design.

1. Avoid CSS. If you have to use CSS (and I do, hard to totally avoid), use inline css. Don’t link to one. Don’t put it in the <head>. Just use inline. Most CSS is support in most email clients but not all of them. Check this out.
2. Keep your subject line short.
3. The top left corner, roughly about 400 x 300 px, is the most important spot in the email to get your brand across. Read up here on why. Think preview panel.
4. 600 px width.
5. Avoid <div>. This is email, not web. Developing for all the email clients is a pain. <table> are your best bet. And set the width in the cells, not just the table. The more thorough you are, the more consistent the email will render across email clients.
6. Don’t use background images. Again, not all email clients support background images. On PC, Outlook 2003 did. Outlook 2007 doesn’t.
7. Test Test Test. Always research. Try to keep up with the trends. Things always change. Your subscribers, technology, etc.

Here are a couple of email designs I put together for Genworth Financial Wealth Mangement.

So there it is! Hello World!