Editable Newsletter Templates
The last few weeks I’ve been working with Meals on Wheels here in the Twin Cities. This organization is very familiar with marketing themselves when it comes to newsletters and e-mail campaigns, however, they desired a layout that was more cohesive with their established branding system.
After helping them to create an editable e-mail newsletter in Constant Contact (you can see the finished piece here), we moved onto our next project; creating a paper newsletter template. The objectives for the project were:
a. The templates had to be built in Microsoft Word.
b. There needed to be three templates; one in black and white, one in full color and another two-color piece. This was so the user could print as they wished.
c. The template needed to be VERY EASY to edit.
With those three objectives in mind, I got to work laying out the design. The piece also needed to include several required content areas the client provided me with. After all was said and done, I presented the following design (in the three requested color formats):
As you can see from above, the layout is very clean and very simple. This not only ties in with the branding the organization already has, but it will also help the user to edit the document without difficulty. The following is a close-up of the front and back side:
And now for the project breakdown; here’s why we did what we did:
1. The client had asked that each Metro Meals on Wheels Chapter be able to insert their own region here. By creating a clearly defined space for this on top of the newsletter title bar, the text can be changed without changing the header’s other elements.
2. As a fun and interesting statistic, Meals on Wheels wants the ability to display how many meals have been delivered. The volunteers who send out these newsletters for each chapter, however, will be sending them out as they please. This could be daily, weekly, monthly, etc. That said, the number of meals is not only editable but the “THIS MONTH” text is as well.
3. There are organization-wide events but should the particular chapter want to host and announce their own potluck, they can certainly do so here. By keeping the Upcoming Events section editable, the user can notify readers of newsworthy dates that pertain to them specifically.
4. Each volunteer sending out the newsletter has the opportunity to post their contact information. This keeps things more personal; readers aren’t calling the main offices for questions volunteer’s may be able to answer themselves.
5. The Samples From Our Menu section allows volunteers to edit sample meals as they see fit. They could change them based on the week, season or maybe a menu that might speak more to their region’s demographic.
6. Metro Meals on Wheels asked that there be a location within the newsletter for volunteers to insert a photo. Here, the newsletter template users can easily insert an image from a recent event, a volunteer profile, etc. This helps to add some visual interest to the layout as well.
Of course, we can’t forget that all article text and titles are editable by the volunteers typing these newsletters also.
Once the design was approved I was able to break down the design of each of the three color-coded newsletters and create a Microsoft Word-friendly template. The user can now go in and easily see where they’re to type and insert their information:
These Word templates will be sent out to the volunteers along with corresponding PDF samples of how the layout is meant to look when filled in with information. These PDFs will serve as guides for article length, image size, etc.
So far the templates have been very well received. I’m anxious to hear how the volunteers sending the newsletters feel about working within the template. Surely this is an easy and effective way to keep the Metro Meals on Wheels identity unified while adaptable to users.
The designs displayed above are the sole property of Metro Meals on Wheels.
©2010, Metro Meals on Wheels. All rights reserved.
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