Product design · 2025–present
Understanding
The founder needed a newsletter she could edit herself, one that matched the personality of the new website. I designed a three-theme Mailchimp kit that she has used for roughly 20 sends. The first redesigned send had an observed ~52.6% open rate with Mailchimp Privacy Protection excluded, but this wasn't a controlled attribution test.
- Role
- Product Designer
- Scope
- I owned the final visual design and Mailchimp build. Another designer, the founder, and I shaped the copy and base structure.
- Outcome
- A three-theme kit the founder edits herself. She has launched roughly 20 sends since the redesign.
- Timeline
- February 2025 – Ongoing
- Tools
- Figma, Mailchimp
Key moves
- Problem: Open rates were down, and the newsletter no longer matched the redesigned website.
- Constraint: The founder needed a Mailchimp-native system she could edit without Figma or HTML.
- Validation: Practice sends on mobile and desktop exposed Gmail clipping and dark-mode inversion.
A rebrand and a weekly workflow
UnderstandingFAFSA helps people navigate FAFSA. The founder had her own issues with the newsletter. Open rates were down, and the design stood in contrast with what was on the newly redesigned website. My own audit aligned with that. The website redesign was well executed and full of personality. The newsletter's overly long copy, uneven CTAs, and poor hierarchy weren't doing the same. It needed a refresh.
The founder had a busy schedule and a short turnaround once all the articles were compiled and her editor had given them a gander. Her experience with Figma was limited, and coding or editing HTML wasn't her strength. The new system had to work inside Mailchimp without requiring either skill.
What the redesign had to account for
Each send could include FAFSA filing windows, scholarship deadlines, policy changes, and several calls to action. The founder needed enough structure to put an issue together quickly, with room to rearrange stories when the week called for it.
Scroll inside the frame to read the full send.
Open original capture
Scroll inside the frame to read the full send.
Open original captureReported open rates are shown for context. This was not a controlled attribution test.
What 120 newsletters revealed
A collaborator and I reviewed more than 120 newsletters. We looked at clarity, personalization, tone, visual appeal, and brand consistency. Revenews, The 74, Next by Jeff Selingo, Medium, and Folderly gave us a broad comparison set. I kept coming back to Snacks because its copy felt lively and it used color to make scanning easier. HubSpot gave me the idea for livelier dividers.
I owned the final visual design. Another designer, the founder, and I worked together on the copy and base structure. The required sections, colors, typefaces, and final say stayed with the founder. Her critique was short: Add some pizzazz.
Over time, I felt more comfortable deviating from the standing layout when a send needed something different.
I gave longer sends clearer breaks and more direct section titles to make them easier to scan.
I locked spacing, type hierarchy, and dividers while leaving content and module order swappable.
I built the kit in Mailchimp so the founder could assemble each issue without touching HTML.
I flattened the hierarchy and cut extra wrappers once practice sends exposed Gmail clipping.
I made welcome, weekly, and shorter event templates so different sends could hold different amounts of content.
Rules for fixed and swappable parts
Building a kit inside Mailchimp
The world of email marketing was somewhat foreign to me. I hoped whatever I designed in Figma could be ported straight into Mailchimp. That was not the case.
I made a welcome email, the weekly newsletter, and a shorter ICYMI version for event invites and recaps. I also left the founder with three email themes inspired by the brand palette.
Default send. Full modular kit assembled each week.
Scroll inside the frame to read the full send. Two of the three template types are shown here: weekly and event.
Open original captureWhat this showsHeadlines, body copy, imagery, links, and middle-module order can change. Header and footer placement, spacing, type, and dividers stay fixed.
BoundaryThe interactive switcher shows the weekly and event templates, not the welcome email.
Within the founder's type choices, I locked spacing, type hierarchy, and dividers. The founder can swap content and copy, then rearrange middle modules without touching HTML.
Open the supporting system details
Pick a layer to isolate it. The other dims back.
Showing both layers: swappable content and the locked frame.Try a swap. The palette re-tints the region markers.
- Swappable: editors change each send (headlines, body copy, emoji icons, article links, and middle-module order).
- Locked: structure holds every send (wave dividers, padding rails, section rhythm, footer skeleton).
Rebuilding the system in Mailchimp
Practice sends went to me, the other designer, the editor, and the founder. Usually, at least one person opened a practice send on mobile and another on desktop. Those sends exposed Gmail's 102 KB HTML clipping limit and dark-mode color inversion.
Gmail clips emails once the HTML source crosses 102 KB. Figma's spacing created too many Mailchimp containers and wrappers. I rebuilt the live system with simpler native blocks, flattened the hierarchy, and removed what didn't need to ship.
HubSpot gave me the idea for livelier dividers. That ended up working against me because each custom illustration was data-heavy and hard to reproduce natively in Mailchimp. Compressing the PNGs lowered their download weight, but it didn't reduce the HTML source Gmail measures.
Dark mode inverted some colors. The white backgrounds of the custom illustrations had to go so they could align with a viewer's phone theme. Leaving them in place interrupted the visual rhythm, so I removed them in Photoshop.
What this showsI rebuilt the live template with a flatter hierarchy, fewer wrappers, and Mailchimp-native blocks.
BoundaryImage compression reduced download weight, not the HTML source Gmail measures.
The first redesigned send
The founder has launched roughly 20 sends since the redesign and edits the template herself each week. She gets in touch when the layout needs to adapt for a specific audience or she wants a color pairing that isn't in the original three themes.
I still build custom icons, banners, and dividers when a send calls for them. I get to see how far I can push the template before an email client enacts limits. It's a constant back and forth.
The first redesigned send went out November 4, 2025. Mailchimp reported an observed ~52.6% open rate with MPP excluded, while earlier sends were around 30%. Because this wasn't a controlled attribution test, I don't attribute the difference to the redesign.
