She's Got Designer Eyes

I've always been blown away by the way designers bring copy to life. The way they think is completely different than how I think. I think in black-and-white word docs; they think in color, color, color. Bringing these two ways of thinking together is what creates the perfect email.

Coach put a fresh step in my inbox with this newsletter. At first glance, I loved the way they gave the product silos in the hero some breathing space by not confining them to a box. That said, it also felt like too many tricks in one bag. To get the real scoop from a designer's POV, I enlisted Amy Hamilton, SH designer extraordinaire, to help me out with the 360-degree look at the creative.

Here's what she said:

My first thought when seeing this email was, WOW COOL, this is different! I immediately noticed the overlapping text, colors and imagery. Coach is definitely creating a style here.

However, after the initial WOW factor wore off, my eye wasn't sure where to go. The hero copy and right rail copy seemed to fight each other, and the lower half of the email felt a bit cluttered. The call to actions also fell pretty far below the fold. While this email has some nice and inventive approaches, I think it could use a little more focus. I would suggest:

• Move a call-to-action above the fold
• Create a primary message focus by expanding the hero image through to the left rail, or by bringing down the font size in the left rail so it's more obvious that it's a secondary message
• Use a unified headline and copy treatment (as well as HTML text for body copy)
• Clean up a bit of the cluttered imagery at the bottom