Project Overview
I created Delta’s enterprise Email Style Guide, a modular design system built to standardize how the brand communicates across millions of outbound messages. The guide formalized every component of the email experience, from copy tone and hierarchy to visual layout, color usage, and interaction patterns. This system ensured that all Delta communications delivered a unified brand experience while reducing production complexity for internal teams and agency partners.
The Challenge
Delta’s email program had grown complex, with multiple teams producing promotional, transactional, and triggered messages. Visual styles varied, hierarchy was inconsistent, and mobile layouts were not fully optimized. The brand needed a unified structure that protected consistency, supported personalization, and allowed teams to build emails quickly without sacrificing the Delta identity.
The Solution
I developed a modular email design system that breaks every email into reusable, clearly defined components. Each element includes strict specifications for typography, spacing, character counts, image sizes, and use cases. The system covers:
Copy tone guidelines that prioritize clarity, scanability, and brevity.
A complete library of modules, including headers, hero images, primary copy blocks, promotional sections, partner modules, route-awareness components, fare charts, and multi-offer layouts.
A mobile-first structure that ensures clarity and usability across devices.
Defined CTA patterns with character limits, visual rules, and interaction structure.
Standardized color, type, and layout principles aligned with Delta’s Keep Climbing identity.
This created a framework that any designer, developer, or partner could follow without guesswork.
System Highlights
Consistency at Scale
The style guide locked down the core elements of Delta’s visual language. Typography, spacing systems, brand colors, and module structures were unified across every email type, ensuring a recognizable Delta experience regardless of content or team origin.
Flexibility Without Losing Control
Although highly structured, the system supports promotional messaging, triggered email journeys, partner offers, route updates, fare sales, product education, and mobile messaging. Teams can assemble messages quickly by selecting the appropriate modules without rewriting the rules.
Clear Hierarchy and Scannability
The system defines strict character limits, line spacing rules, and copy structures. Headlines, subheads, bullets, and supporting text follow predictable patterns that make every message faster to read and easier to act on. CTA construction rules improve click clarity and reduce cognitive load.
Mobile-First Execution
Modules were engineered with image-size constraints, padding structures, and tap-friendly CTAs to ensure readability and usability across devices. The system reduces complexity in responsive builds and protects visual consistency on smaller screens.
Legal and Compliance Integration
Terms and conditions modules, footnotes, and disclaimer structures were built into the system. This reduces friction between creative and legal teams and ensures quicker approvals.
Impact
Operational Efficiency
Reduced design and production time across teams
Lowered revision cycles by eliminating ambiguity in layouts and module usage
Created a single source of truth for internal teams and external agencies
Simplified onboarding for new designers, developers, and vendors
Brand and UX Improvements
Delivered a consistent Delta brand experience across promotional and transactional channels
Improved readability, clarity, and user engagement
Strengthened recognition of Delta’s digital voice and visual identity
Supported highly personalized messaging without losing coherence
Why This Project Matters
This work demonstrates my ability to design scalable creative systems that align brand strategy, UX principles, and operational realities. The Delta Email Style Guide is not just a design document. It’s a governance tool, a production accelerant, and a brand-quality safeguard. It represents the type of strategic creative direction and systems thinking I bring to enterprise-scale organizations.
