Design an email

Build a product announcement with a short introduction and one button to its product page. You will finish with a branded draft and a rendered preview you can inspect before sending.

Have your product facts, destination URL, published brand kit and a sample customer ready. This guide uses the visual editors; if your team brings finished markup, open the HTML or MJML reference.

1. Open the editor

   Open the email you are working on, from a broadcast, a template, or a workflow step, and click into its content. Click Preview in the editor toolbar to show your email beside the editor, or over it when the window is narrow.

2. Add your content

   Add blocks one at a time: Text for your message, Image for a photo or banner, Button for a link like "Shop now", and Divider or Spacer to give things room to breathe. You can also paste a URL into a YouTube Video, X Post, or Link Preview block. Click a block to edit it, or drag it to move it.

3. Choose a layout

   In the Dynamic Composer, arrange your content into sections, and split a section into columns when you want two things side by side, like an image next to some text. Reorder sections by dragging them until the flow feels right. The Plain Composer has no sections or columns: it runs down one column, which is what gives it a written-by-a-human look.

4. Make it look like your brand

   Select your published brand kit and its palette, style pack and assets in email setup. References use that branding when rendered; explicit block styles remain overrides. A campaign already preparing keeps its captured brand settings, and an already sent email does not change.

   

   Watch walkthrough

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   Walkthrough steps

   Tour the existing Halden draft: inspect Design, Personalize and Data, open Sarah’s saved personalized preview, then return to Edit. Both themes reopen the same stored output. No new AI generation or email send is performed.

5. Preview and adjust

   Open the preview to inspect the rendered subject, content and layout. It sits beside the editor when the window is wide enough, and covers it when it is not. If your email has AI-personalized parts, choose a Model and a Thinking depth under Personalize → Runs with, then click Generate preview to render one person's version. Tweak the wording, swap an image, or nudge the spacing until you are happy.

Review more than the canvas

Use Design to edit the selected block and the maxinja input at the bottom of the right panel to request a specific change. Personalize lists prompts and variables, flags missing fallbacks, and holds the runtime model and estimate. Data controls the sample and recipient. Checks lists readiness problems.

Switch between Base and Personalized to compare fixed content with generated copy. Test a recipient with complete context and one with missing values. Use Send test for inbox appearance; it sends the rendered sample and does not establish marketing eligibility or audience correctness.

Before scaling up, read Personalize → Estimate and its assumptions. An unknown campaign cost is not zero, and the editor’s Checks do not replace broadcast preparation checks.

Related

Once your email looks right, learn how to send a broadcast to a group, or set your brand so every email starts on-brand.