Email design · look book
Synovus
Emails I designed at Brightwave for Synovus, shown as a look book. It covers Credit Card Activation, Private Wealth and the Project Elevate check-ins.
I designed Credit Karma's card offer emails at Brightwave. Most paired one partner card with one kind of member. In all, that came to 14 jobs, most with several rounds, A and B versions, and a phone view.
A steady run of card offers, each for a different partner bank and a different member. Every one had to look like Credit Karma and still show off the partner's card brand.
Designed 14 jobs: 13 email campaigns and a set of Gmail ads. I pitched more than one hero idea per job and took each one through rounds to a final, most with a phone version too.
Each round went to the client as a full comp with the subject line options and preview text on top, and often an A and a B version to pick from.
Credit Karma recommends credit cards from partner banks to its members. Each job named the card and the member it was for: people new to credit, people rebuilding credit, people paying down card debt, people who want more rewards.
My job was to design the email: the hero idea, the layout, the desktop and phone versions, and every round of changes until it was ready to code.
Four steps, the same for every job. Click any picture to see it full size.
I built a design kit from Credit Karma's brand guide and email guide: type, buttons, star ratings, icons and banners. Every email started from the same pieces.
Most jobs opened with two to four hero ideas. For Balance Transfer: shed light on your debt, throw your budget a safety net, get back to dry land, or just transfer and save.
Each round went to the client, and the next round started from what came back. When Credit Karma was not excited by the card offer designs, I made two animated versions. They loved both and went with them. Wells Fargo took eight rounds. New To Credit took seven.
Each comp went out with the copywriter's subject line options and the preview text above the email, plus a phone view. The client saw every headline option in place, the way a member meets the email: in the inbox first.
The finals that tell the story best, grouped by what the email had to do. Partner cards appear as they did in the comps.
One partner card per email. The photo and headline change with the card. The bones stay the same: card art, star rating, one main button, and a way out for members who want something else.
Emails for members who are new to credit or rebuilding it. Warmer photos, a plainer promise, and help before the card. The Subprime email is also in the reel at the top.
Emails that offer a few matched cards at once, or one way out of card debt. The client chose the two animated Balance Transfer heroes. The rates in the Credit Card Offers comps are placeholders.
Gmail ads show as one line in the Promotions tab, then open to a single card. Three versions: one about saving, two about paying off debt faster.
Click one to see the idea, how it changed, and selected rounds and versions. The buttons inside switch rounds, versions and devices.
The partner, the member and the photo change from job to job. The layout stays the same, so every email still reads as Credit Karma, and a new card is a faster job.
Here is the Citi Simplicity email from top to bottom. Most partner emails above follow this order.
Email design · look book
Emails I designed at Brightwave for Synovus, shown as a look book. It covers Credit Card Activation, Private Wealth and the Project Elevate check-ins.
Interactive email · Gmail ads
Email and Gmail ad work I made at Brightwave for Credit Karma. The original email design used placeholder text, so its copy was rewritten for the portfolio.
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Card 2 of 5: Credit Karma