SimpleTire
Redesigning email to reach audiences
Art direction, UI/UX, Graphic Design
SERVICES
UI/UX
Art Direction
Graphic Design
Illustration
SimpleTire is an online tire retailer aiming to simplify the experience of buying tires. They connect tire distributors with installation centres, allowing users to always stay local.
Challenge
SimpleTire had just launched their updated logo and website. However, much was still in flux at SimpleTire, and they needed an experienced designer to build out brand guidelines and strategize how best to roll out the new brand across various media, such as emails. As SimpleTire is an online retailer, the emails were a very important form of communication with their consumer base.
Solution
I provide SimpleTire’s marketing team with a polished design direction their marketing and transactional emails. Our goal was to create email experiences that were consistent with the company’s overall new brand and tone, and build on the relationship between SimpleTire and the consumer.
Process
Because the company was growing so quickly, its staff were forced to use old templates that were off-brand, and improvise with limited creative resources and assets. Much of its material looked repetitive, as there was an over-reliance on templates. SimpleTire’s voice was evolving to become more playful and personal, and needed a design that was flexible enough to account for special events, sales, and other brandable events.
Over the course of several months, I worked closely with SimpleTire and led the design of their marketing materials. I met with other designers and leaders within the marketing and product teams to learn more about the brand and its evolution since its launch. We discussed the emotions and messages we wanted the brand to convey, and how we wanted to evolve the brand forward.
I began with redesigning and rewriting their brand guidelines; this meant revising some of the initial rules provided in the original guide. Changes were made to ensure all marketing materials adhered to one singular vision. I defined a design strategy for use of photography, illustration, iconography.
Promotional Emails
I reimagined Simpletire’s promotional email designs, which resulted in improved engagement and more visits to the website. This involved working with the email team to test design iterations with audiences.
I also expanded upon Simpletire’s use of illustration, and created several motion pieces for campaigns; I created a set of storyboards and illustrated assets, and provided a motion designer with direction and guidance for the final piece. These were used for promotion materials for sales, social media, and internally branded materials.
Welcome email
The welcome email was an important experience being one of the first forms of communication with their customers. I created brand new design template for versatile design that would help build credibility and excitement for the brand and their products.
Product announcements
For product announcement, such as the release of SimpleSnap, I worked with the marketing team in creating an email and social media campaign to successfully drive traffic to the website.
Transactional emails
I reviewed existing templates for SimpleTire’s automated, transactional emails, and proposed redesigned templates to better communicate product delivery details, and create a more personalized, friendly experience for their customers.
Results
After working with SimpleTire, I provided them a strong foundation for their marketing team to further build their brand and voice through design; they were provided with a robust brand guideline, a family of email templates for both promotions and transactions, a strategy for use of photography and illustration, and an overall improved strategic creative direction for the brand.