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Brand Your Email Communications with Leopard
When it comes to branding one’s communications, it is difficult to imagine a higher priority than being able to brand business email messages. For me – and for most people – most communications are by email. If continuity of imaging and messaging is going to be in evidence, branding one's email is beyond obviously important.
Few companies are more brand-savvy than Apple so it is difficult to understand why Apple's Mail application didn't make branded email possible until Leopard. Sure, there were some clunky branding techniques available - mostly header or footer image attachments - but no strategies that integrate image and message. As a company with a brand practice specialty, an inability to brand our email has been a particular frustration for us. How do we walk our talk and set an example without the tools?
The good news is that Leopard makes it possible for Apple users to brand their email. The bad news is that doing so isn't easy to accomplish. I was surprised at what's required to take advantage of this feature. I've been an Apple user since the Apple II. When the Macintosh was created, Apple made a commitment to a couple of important brand values: 1) Simplicity: Keep the operating system as simple as possible so that users don't have to learn too many commands and 2) Intuitive: Make sure that users can figure out how to use their computers without constantly referring to technical manuals.
Somehow Apple forgot that most of us really value Apple's simple, intuitive approach to computing. These are core brand values where Apple is concerned. Let's hope they get back to what's core.
This last weekend, when I phoned Apple's support folks in frustration at not being able to figure out how to brand my email (this was one of the principal reasons I upgraded to Leopard), a very helpful support employee pointed me to this article with step-by-step instructions to create my branded email template.
If you're like me, you'll probably read the article in advance, and you may decide, as I almost did, that making a template is too technical or intimidating. While it's not easy, it is not all that hard to do. I urge you to give it a try.
The author does make some assumptions about his reader's ability to both 1) do basic graphic design, 2) feel comfortable with HTML, and 3) work with design software. I created my template using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Snapz Pro or some other screen capture software. You'll need these programs or some equivalent to accomplish the work.
Some additional tips:
1) I suggest creating the template in Illustrator because when you save it for Web, you won't lose resolution quality. Unless you know how to work with jpegs so you won't lose quality, I would use eps files when you size and place your logo.
2) Make sure you have your color palette available with the correct RGB values available. Start by creating a palette swatch library. Using the eyedropper to match colors can change your color values. Make sure you're working in RGB and not in CMYK.
3) If you can start with electronic files of your stationery, I recommend that you do so. This will help you visually manage proportions, values, and also prompt you to include important visual brand language elements.
3) Design your template as one unit. The dimensions should be w: 740 pixels, h: 689 pixels.
4) Slice it or make three crops (saving and starting over with the original 1-piece template each time) to make the three template sections mentioned in the article. This is the only way to ensure that the template aligns easily. Make sure you match the sizing exactly or your result will be stretched and funky.
Posted on November 12, 2007 02:19 PM | Permalink
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