Design: Kristyna Archer Springs Forward

Last month, I got the chance to design an email promo for photographer Kristyna Archer. Kristyna recently updated her logo, and was ready to start promoting herself and her new look. However, a tight budget made her concerned about the final results. Kristyna defined her style as edgy, and wouldn’t accept anything less than that for her accompanying promotions. With her budget in mind, we agreed that I would design three quick comps for her. After these preliminary drafts, she would decide if she liked the direction and if she wanted to continue with the full job; a challenge I was up to taking on.

I began the process by reviewing Kristyna’s website design and other brand assets. Going through what she already had, I decided to design a promo that would pair well with her website, but wouldn’t be overly similar as to be boring and repetitive. I did think the pink Kristyna used as an accent color on her logo would go well in promos. With all of this in mind, combined with some of Kristyna’s images, I created our first round of emailers:

Kristyna was very pleased with the initial results, and gave me the go ahead to keep working. I was both happy and excited to move forward with the project. As for the drafts, she liked the idea of having a miniature summary in the mailer where she could discuss either the photos featured or her work in general. After some feedback from Kristyna, and some refinements, I sent over several updated design options:

Soon after, Kristyna, picked her favorite. She was eager to get the new template up and running and soon had her images chosen and the HTML code uploaded to her Agency Access account. She had a few questions about the process, which I talked her through over the phone. Once everything was set, Kristyna was kind enough to say:

I hadn’t felt settled with my branding or identity after 3 or 4 rounds of redesigning, but couldn’t describe exactly why.  I just knew that the design was not as sophisticated, and did not represent my brand as I imagined. It’s something you sort of know when you see it, and when I saw Mark’s ideas, it was a breathe of fresh air.

The results were fantastic, and Mark nailed what I was looking for immediately.  I was very happy and excited to show off the new look! Great job Wonderful Machine!

The final template:

A recent email Kristyna sent out using the template:

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