A Shared System for Every Inbox
Hemmings sends email at real volume — six core newsletters, real-time saved search alerts, and every transactional message tied to a bid, offer, or sale. After a 2023 rebrand shipped fonts that didn't render consistently across inboxes, I built the shared system that makes every one of those emails look like Hemmings, no matter who builds it.
THE PROBLEM
Rebrand fonts broke apart inbox to inbox.
The 2023 rebrand introduced custom typefaces that most email clients don't reliably render, and there was no shared reference for building email.
Fonts fell back unpredictably. The custom typefaces swapped to different defaults in each inbox, so the rebrand never looked the same twice.
Every team built its own way. Design, marketing, and other departments each started from whatever template they had.
Styles drifted. Colors, spacing, CTA styles, and even logo size and color changed from template to template.
Dated content blocks. Dense layouts with stacked links that were hard to scan on a phone.
No family resemblance. Newsletters, saved search alerts, and transactional email barely looked related.
THE SOLUTION
One system, rolled out in phases.
After auditing every email type in production, I built a modular, web-safe design system and rolled it out one email family at a time.
Web-safe type. A defined Verdana type scale replaced the custom fonts, so text renders the same in every client.
Color tokens. Every color has a named role, so builders pick "heading" or "button," not a hex value.
Phased rollout. Saved search alerts and transactional email first, then the six core newsletters as the largest proof of concept. All three phases are complete.
Reusable libraries. Shared headers and footers, buttons, and content blocks, coded in Sailthru.
Built to scale. The same system now underpins all 40 templates in the lifecycle program.
Ongoing optimization. The work doesn't end at launch. We keep monitoring how these emails perform and refine the designs wherever the data points to an improvement.
The System
The building blocks: color, type, rules, and components, documented so anyone at Hemmings can build an on-brand email.
One header library, every email
I designed a header library so every email starts from a pre-built header. The logo lockup, size, and placement never change; only the background and the title bar do, so each newsletter feels distinct while the brand reads the same everywhere.
One compact lockup
Logos used to fill most of the first screen, and some still read Hemmings.com. Every header now uses the same right-sized lockup.
A title that renders
Titles were missing or set in the rebrand's condensed font. Each header now names the newsletter in web-safe type, on Emerald or Cream.
One structure
Each sub-brand had its own header shape and layout. Now every header shares one structure, with View in Browser centered inside it.
From blocks of text to readable steps
Transactional emails, the messages sent after a bid, offer, or submission, used to deliver everything in one big block of text. I broke the same information into short, titled steps, so readers can see what happens next at a glance instead of reading a paragraph to find it.
Steps, not a paragraph
One dense paragraph became numbered cards, each with a short title, so readers can skim to the step they need.
Clear hierarchy
A "What's next" label, then step titles, then short supporting copy, all using the system's type styles.
Help built in
A reusable Need Help block puts the phone number, email, and hours right in the email.
With the header, type, color, and blocks in place, a full email comes together from parts that already work. The same emails, before and after: a compact header and no link bar mean readers see the first car right away.
Putting it together
The Result
Because new emails start from the system instead of a blank canvas, I designed 40 templates and seven journeys in six months, and the emails built on it are driving more action per send.
40+
Templates designed on the system
1.02M
Subscribers reached by emails on the system
+8.63%
Key events from email, last 4 months
+7.14%
Key events per send, last 30 days