Illumina Email Design System and Templates

Digital Experience Design / Development

Project Overview

When the marketing technology stack team at Illumina approached me to create new email templates for Illumina's rebrand, I devised a strategy to drive brand consistency and deliver more impactful emails. I interviewed existing users (digital specialists) of the current email templates. Their main troubles came from a need for more flexibility and the time it took to create each email.
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I conducted a comprehensive audit, analyzing over 70 email templates currently in use. Recognizing the need for simplicity and efficiency, I envisioned a design system based on modular components. This approach allowed for a limited set of design elements, reducing HTML code complexity while maintaining scalability and flexibility to cater to various business needs.

I focused on optimizing usability and enhancing the user experience for regional digital specialists using the same email templates used for over four years. Implementing the modular componentized design system resulted in a streamlined process, significantly reducing the number of templates needed. Additionally, digital specialists were empowered to personalize their emails, allowing for effortless content customization.

By prioritizing usability and creating user-friendly templates built off of a design system, digital specialists are no longer constrained by strict templates. They can quickly adapt their content to suit their unique requirements.
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The result was brand consistency and empowered digital specialists to craft bolder and more impactful communications, delivering higher value and engagement to their audiences with reduced effort and creation times.

My Contributions

Creative Direction / UX / Visual Design / Development

Email Templates

Email Components

The design system consists of 12 email components. The 11 design patterns shown and a feature built into the templates give the digital specialist the ability to use a background image. Both email templates can use all email components.
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The modular design of the email components allows for an endless number of component combinations that enable unlimited emails variations.
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Through careful planning and attention to detail, I consolidated our email communication into just two core templates. This reduction in template variations resulted in numerous advantages for our email marketing efforts.

Standard Email Template

This email template serves as the digital specialists' primary email template, designed to create a striking impact at first sight through large hero images. Including large hero images ensure recipients a significant, bold, and powerful visual experience. Moreover, digital specialists can use transparent hero and background images to craft numerous variations of visually engaging emails with little effort.

The provided email examples showcase the template's versatility, demonstrating how two different-looking emails can be achieved using the same base design. This flexibility empowers digital specialists to cater to various campaign themes and objectives, delivering captivating and unique messaging to their audiences.

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Simple Email Template

A versatile email template that addresses the need for minimalist emails without sacrificing visual impact. This template offers a range of benefits, making it ideal for various communications, including editorial or product notification emails.
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The Simple Email Template streamlines communication by focusing on essential content, making it ideal for straightforward messages or notifications. Its clean and uncluttered layout ensures that recipients receive the intended information with clarity and efficiency.
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While designed for text-centric communications, the template also provides flexibility to incorporate imagery when desired. This adaptability ensures that marketing teams can tailor the template to match different campaign themes or include images that enhance the overall message.