Congratulations on deciding to launch your newsletter! You’re likely already well on your way to giving the members of your email list an inside look into what your business can do for them. However, having a newsletter layout that looks good is nearly as important as one that reads well.
Your readers don’t want to go through a newsletter that looks like it was pasted from Word. More importantly, you’re the one the newsletter is representing, so you would want it to look good, right? You want it to be appealing, but uncluttered.
Here are some quick tips on how to keep your newsletter clean and clear.
Start With A Template
If you’re proficient with the Adobe Suite of programs and have some InDesign know-how, you could do this yourself.
For everyone else, there’s Canva, which has a massive repertoire of templates that you can use for your newsletter layout.
If you’re using a template resource, don’t pay too much attention to the colour schemes and palettes just yet. Look for the actual design that you think best fits your brand.
This is because step two is…
Make The Template Your Own
This is the fun part and has a lot to do with basic branding principles.
Integrate your colour palette, featured fonts, and other key design elements of your brand into the template that you’ve chosen.
Use the bold colours for header backgrounds and fonts and keep the more muted ones for backgrounds. Bold colours really pop on-screen so use them for accents, and sparingly: too much “POW!” can make your newsletter layout look gaudy and cluttered.
Don’t Use Unnecessary Pictures
Readers open your newsletter to read it, not look at the pictures.
If you’re using any past the header image for your newsletter – which is an absolute must-have – use them sparingly and to guide the reader’s eye.
They should also be absolutely relevant to the topic, so no pictures of your new kitten in your newsletter about search engine optimization.
Avoid Clumping Text Together
A good rule of thumb is that your text shouldn’t be more than four or five lines down before starting a new paragraph if it spans the page.
If it’s denser, like if you’re using a two or three-column layout for your newsletter, then another rule of thumb is to make your paragraphs look like squares, like so:
Use Your Social Media As A Footer
A solid, colour filled bar with button links to your social media will tie the rest of your layout together if it’s on-brand.
It also saves you mentioning them in your body text (outside of your call to action, of course.)
If it has to be there anyways, might as well make it look good and be coherent with the rest of your layout.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, here are our quick tips to have a clean and clear layout for your newsletter:
- Start with a template
- Make the template your own
- Don’t use unnecessary pictures
- Avoid clumping text together
- Use your social media as a footer
Now that you’ve got your layout set you might be wondering how to give your newsletter an extra bit of flair. Here are 6 Awesome Ideas For Your Email Newsletter Theme.
