Phase 1
Discovery
Three email categories were defined early: Transactional, Promotional, and Newsletter. Each required its own visual logic. Separate moodboards were developed for each track before any design work began, ensuring the direction was validated against the brand and audience first.
Phase 2
Architecture
Before the brand was applied, the structure was resolved. Lo-fi wireframes mapped content hierarchy, module sequencing, and CTA logic across all three tracks — surfacing key decisions before production began.
Phase 3
Design System
The 24 templates were organized into three tracks:
Transactional — submission confirmations, payment updates, and account notifications. Icon-driven, high-clarity layouts built to resolve customer anxiety quickly.
Promotional — membership campaigns, tier comparisons, event announcements, submission countdowns. Bold, conversion-focused layouts built around specific urgency moments.
Newsletter — the PSA Insider. A modular editorial format covering market news, auction highlights, and community content. Built for depth and weekly flexibility.
All three tracks shared a unified component library — headers, typography, buttons, icons, and footers — keeping the system cohesive across every email type.
Phase 4
Build and QA
All 24 templates were built on the Acoustic platform and tested via Litmus across 90+ device and client combinations — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, iOS, Android — before deployment. Dark mode, responsiveness, and rendering consistency are validated at every breakpoint.
The completed system gave PSA a scalable, brand-consistent email infrastructure across their entire customer lifecycle — from the first submission confirmation to promotional campaigns and ongoing editorial content. Twenty-four templates. Three tracks. One cohesive system built to hold up at the scale PSA operates.
Credits
Client - PSA
Strategy - Pooyan Alizadeh
Wireframe Design - Ashton Van Nguyen
Building - David Lains
