#also i like to put my explanations of design details in the alt text - just in case anyone wanted to read more of my rambles

[everestgale]

Inspired by this un-cheated Cheated from @/itsonlypolite and by my un-broken Broken, I started to think about what would un-cold Cold look like (it was also a suggestion from @/neverpathia)

Specifically, I imagined how much Cold would change, wither and, quite literally, grow colder as the Narrator shoves the Long Quiet into the Good Ending. It was a fun exercise to see if I could figure out what Cold would look like before he gets traumatized by the eternity of nothingness and boredom. His frame gets thinner, his feathers get longer and more tattered, and his expression gets more and more done with everything :]

...and then this snowballed! And I started thinking about Paranoid, too:

...not that different from how I normally draw him, except he's got actual eyes! What happened to them?

...the Nightmare happened :]

(This was supposed to be a quick brush test, but then surprise! I really wanted to draw the moment his eyes "break" and turn into the static-y mess they are normally. Also pre-Nightmare Paranoid doesn't need gloves, too! It's only after the Long Quiet's body gets thoroughly paralyzed by Nightmare that he needs them as a sensory item, if that makes sense... I've got a lot of Paranoid HCs-)

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Lumchagg

Another one that's immediately recognizable if you spot its most-known characteristic, but I had to keep this one in because I thought it was entertaining that the author was clearly working from two different sources and, rather than try and reconcile the two, apparently just copied two slightly-different accounts and left them like that.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can find an explanation and previous posts at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. The entry that people are working from this time can be found here:

And here's the one that folks will be drawing this week, if you want to get in on it:

Anyway, art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) noted the apparent existence of a larval stage in the second half of the entry, and drew a creature that's part Australian firehawk and part moth. I think this design is extremely cool, and does a good job extrapolating from the ideas of a bird that makes its own funeral pyre and apparently starts life as a larva.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went kind of a flamingo direction with this one, noting that a purple bird might acquire that coloration from its diet the same way flamingos do, which is cool. I also like the idea that its pyre/container is a silver censer, which is oddly accurate to medieval depictions -- I've definitely seen a couple of medieval images of this bird where its "nest" looks a lot like a fancy bowl. (Also thank you for including alt text.)

@kaerran (link to post here) makes note of a bit of a camera quality issue, but has what I think is a really clever idea. They've chosen to make their Lumchagg quite small, so that their "container" could in fact be the contents of a spice rack. A convenient solution for the modern Lumchagg with a high tolerance for plastic fumes. (Also thank you for including alt text.)

@ectocs (link to post here) has plotted out the lifecycle of a bird-thing that genuinely looks more like a dinosaur than anything, which I like a lot. That is a cool-looking bird. I also like the facial expressions a lot -- maybe it's just my imagination, but that blobby little worm stage seems quite pleased with itself. I strongly recommend clicking on the linked post to see a number of additional doodles and notes from the design process, which are very interesting in my opinion.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has done this drawing in a nice dark purple ink, which is both pleasant and appropriate. The bird looks very cool, and I find the worm quite charming. I also appreciate the detail put into the pyre/nest/whatever here. It's good. I like it.

@pomrania (link to post here) notes that the medieval definition of "bird" is quite flexible, and of course worm and wyrm were more or less interchangeable... so this is a dragon. Entirely fair, I can't argue with that. It's pretty cute, too.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) also gives us a life-cycle drawing, complete with a pupa, which I think is a nice and appropriate touch. They note the ambiguity of the term purple in pre-modern sources, so their Lumchagg has a more general colorful & iridescent look. I really like the parrot-worm-thing in the middle of the tree there.

To the Aberdeen Bestiary:

Yep, that's a bird. Presumably the trees are meant to represent frankincense and myrrh, both of which I believe are made from tree resin. Very good Stylized Trees, naturally. The bird, which kind of just looks like a hawk, also seems to be resting on an invisible perch, presumably because the artist wasn't sure what to do with the legs of a bird in flight.

There's also a second illustration:

That absolutely does not help identification, but I think a majority of participants clocked that this is the phoenix.

A few people noted that they hadn't known that phoenices (phoenixes? you know what, it doesn't matter, there's only one of them at a time anyway) were supposed to be purple. Others commented on the odd note about Arabia and the color purple, speculating as to what purple pigment was being referred to. I am excited to tell you that these two things are linked: the famous Tyrian Purple dye was originally used by... [drum roll]... the Phoenicians.

I actually had to delete a word from the entry before posting, because the original reads:

The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, so called either because its colouring is Phoenician purple, or because there is only one of its kind in the whole world.

The other part of the etymological explanation there is later explained by the assertion (the basis of which I do not know) :

The Arabs call a solitary man phoenix.

Also to be clear, there's not exactly a broad pre-modern consensus about phoenix coloration. Everyone seems to agree that it's brightly colored, but what colors vary widely. (However, it should be noted that "red" and "purple" are both popular options, and moreover that those colors are not always differentiated in older texts.)

It's tempting to say that the frankincense & myrrh is here probably just acting as a Christian resurrection metaphor because the authors are monks, but it is in fact the case that multiple medieval descriptions of the phoenix have it making use of valuable plants, including those. In the Old English Wonders of the East, it builds its nest from cinnamon. Herodotus (who says the phoenix is red and gold) mentions the phoenix using myrrh, but not as a nest or funeral pyre -- each new phoenix embalms the body of the previous phoenix in myrrh to be interred at the Temple of the Sun. Pliny (purple and gold, with a blue tail) has the nest made from cinnamon, incense, and perfumes, and when the little worm grows large enough it carries the nest, along with the remains of its predecessor, to said temple. Neither Herodotus nor Pliny mention the fire thing, interestingly, so I suspect it might have come in later. The Wonders of the East does mention the fire, but it has no opinion on the coloration.

I can feel myself falling into a rabbit hole, so I'm just going to cut this one off here.

[skyllion-uwu]

Finally made one of those Carrd things here: https://skyllion.carrd.co/

PFP is my own quick editing

Title is my current vocal stim

Extra Tumblr-exclusive things:

@sky-kinz (Webkinz blog)

@blakeworther (Dinoverse blog)

@skyllion-oc-archive (OC blog)

@sprinkle-stardust (Bailey's blog) This is a blog for my OC, Bailey! It takes place a couple years before the second half of Round and Round We Go, meaning she's about 15, doesn't know about the timeloops, and only knows Jaxon, Robin, Holmes, and Adrienne. She can't see any meta things, such as my OC blog or any tags I make about her, and she thinks Tumblr is broken because she doesn't see a follow button for anyone's blog. Feel free to ask her questions and stuff!

@mx-mind (post limit alt; follows, likes, comments from @skyllion-owo)

@skyllion-fashion-inspo (fashion stuff I save for character stuff like my OCs and my designs of Batman characters)

NSFW blog (18+ mutuals may message me for the name, minors and non mutuals please don't ask me for it. Mostly just me rambling about stuff I feel like I can't post on my main)

Tags I use under the cut

-I make a lot of commentary. If you want to, feel free to screenshot them and rb as it's own thing. I just ask you add an image description to it, either with one under the screenshot or as alt text

-I do trigger/content warnings as "#tw [thing]". Will tag suggestive content as "#suggestive" and explicit content as "#nsft" (I do not post porn).

-AI generated art (NeuralBlender, Dall E Mini, etc) goes under "ai generated". I don't tag informational posts on it that include examples since that's important

-Reblog for thing to happen goes under "superstitious post" and "rb bait". I ACCIDENTALLY TAGGED OLD ONES AS "SUSPICIOUS POST" SO BLOCK THAT TOO JUST IN CASE

-Fake news usually has an explanation in the tags that it's not real. Joking misinformation is tagged "joking misinfo". I use "tw unreality" on general stuff like something isn't real. Lemme know if I need to expand it to include more things!

-Things that are mentioned don't have a tw before it (for example, "suicide mention" is the most common example).

-suggestive vs. nsfw mention vs nsft: suggestive insinuates something NSFW. nsfw mention says something in passing. NSFT goes in detail.

-"#artistic nudity" is for pics with nudity that aren't sexual

-Please feel free to ask for tags so you can filter stuff out. I can either use a personal tag for you or if it's a common trigger I will use the same format across tags.

-"#sky screams into the void" are personal ramblings.

-"#sky vents like amogus" is specifically for venting. I almost always have rbs for these turned off, but you can like or comment unless stated otherwise. Please feel free to filter this out

-"#asks for sky" are asks. I also put the username of the submitter or "anon" if submitted anonymously

-"#cool trinkets and tchotchkes for sky" are for submitted posts! Same naming conventions for asks apply

-"#down in the deep queue sea" is my queue tag. That's right I'm using the queue now!!

-"#sky writes something" is my writing!!

-"#skyllion art" is my art!!

-"#rubber ducking with mica" is my programming tag (for games)!!

-"#skys doodly doodles" are low effort doodles I feel don't warrant the art tag

-"#micas rambling reactions" are my reactions liveblogged whenever I start a piece of media. I will tag with spoilers when necessary (eg. tag spoilers for new Deltarune chapters but wouldn't tag for Undertale since the latter media is old and widely known what happens)

-"#skyllion ocs" are original posts about my OCs!!

-Speaking of OCs, I love the Blorbos from My Brain! Thus, I'll sometimes tag stuff with these names: Jaxon, Robin, Holmes, Charles/Chuck, Bailey, Adrienne, Etienne, Shiko, Neil, Katsumi/Ryousei (formerly named Kami, so older posts will have that), Alina, Junko, Seoyeon/Trixy, Hasedonia, The Sun King (might be tagged Julius), Evanthe, Pyrite, Ophelia, Lila, Horace, Aiden, Betty Cassie, Talia, Willow, Andrew (name pending), Hunter (name pending), Eden, Mark, and Sky (written as "Sky (sona)"; they're a self insert version of myself in my stories). Fan OCs are less commonly tagged but they're Dahlia (Dinoverse OC), Nettle (Flower Kid from Smile for Me), Bee Batson (AU version of Billy Batson/Shazam), and Nova Armstrong or The Black Hole (DC/Batman OC). Feel free to ask about said OCs because I feel awkward randomly talking without people asking

-"#references" are just useful things/stuff I want to save. I'll tag things that don't apply to me but may be useful to others with this too; feel free to go through and rb what you need/want

-"#posts that if i had to see so do you" are cursed posts. I trigger warning these too but block this if you wish to spare yourself

-"#ask games" are ask games. Feel free to copy/paste a question if you wanna ask (don't just say a number though because it may be an old post and will confuse me)

-"#save for mom/my sister" is what it says on the tin. No need to worry much about this one but you get a glimpse into my offline life

-"#lorenzocore" or something involving Lorenzo is an inside joke OC with me and my sister. He loves soup and that's all you need to know. It's soup stuff

-Anything referring to Kokomo is a reference to another joke OC. We don't speak of that evil demon. His lore is very complicated and too much for a simple intro post

[manga-and-stuff]

Scripting tutorial for Tags and Captions

I often mention that I use a AutoHotkey scripts for adding the tags and captions to all my uploads, and in this post I will explain how I actually do it. 

Getting started:

First of all, this tutorial only works with a windows PC. I don’t know of any equivalent programs like this for Mac, Linux or mobile. 

Step one is downloading the “current version” of the program: AutoHotkey and install it. Now you can get started with scripting.

You can write scripts in any text editior, I personally would recommend Notepad++ but window’s regular notepad will do the job just fine.

Creating a Script:

To write your first script, simply right click on your desktop and select “New > AutoHotkey script, then right click on the new file and select “edit script”. Alternatively you can just create a “.txt” file and change the file extension to “.ahk”. 

A newly created AHK script will already have a few lines of text in it, for a script as simple as the one we’re writing you can ignore that text.

Please note: anytime you make a change to your script you have to save and reload it for the changes to take effect. 

A much more detailed Explanation for how to get started can be found here

Hotkeys and Hotstrings 

This is what a normal hotkey command looks like:

F6:: Sendinput, hello Return

In this case, the F6 key is the hotkey, designated as such by the “::” behind it. In the next line we have the actual command that get’s triggered by the hotkey, in this case it is “Sendinput,” which will send whatever text you put behind it, in this case “hello”, you can also send other key presses by putting them into these: {} brackets, for example adding {space} which will have the same effect as you pressing the space bar. 

Please note: anything you want to send with the sendinput command needs to be in the same line as the command itself. “Return” tells the script that whatever action your hotkey is supposed to perform ends here which allows you to add the next hotkey or whatever in your script.

I would also recommend to add a modifier key such as control or alt to your hotkeys so you can still use the keys original function. To use alt as a modifier key simply add a exclamation point to your hotkey like this: !F6::  Now this hotkey will only trigger if you press alt and F6 at the same time.

A much more detailed Explanation for hotkeys and modifier keys can be found here Hotstrings  Hotstrings basically work the same as Hotkeys with the main difference that you use a word or phrase to trigger the a command instead of a key. This is what it looks like: ::wha:: Sendinput, Witch Hat Atelier Return

Your trigger phrase or word get’s designated by putting “::” in front of it and behind it. The command will trigger as soon as you hit the space bar or the enter key once you’ve written the word or phrase, however it will not trigger if you just keep writing, so for example if you write “what” instead of “wha” the command will not trigger. 

There are many, MANY commands other than “Sendinput” you can trigger, but for now, this is all we need for what we’re trying to do. 

A much more detailed Explanation for hotstrings can be found here

Tagging and caption script for tumblr

This is a simplified version of what my command for captioning and tagging Berserk posts looks like, Berserkk with double k is the trigger word so this command doesn’t trigger every time you write the word Berserk:

::berserkk:: sendinput, Source: Berserk / ベルセルク {enter}by Kentaro Miura{tab}Berserk{enter}Kentaro Miura{enter}Manga and Stuff{enter}Mangacap{enter}Manga{enter}Art{enter}

Return

Please note: everything after “sendinput” needs to be in the same line, tumblr’s formatting just added line breaks.

And this is what the result of this command looks like:

 And here with a visual explanation what all these {words} did

And that’s basically it...

AutoHotkey is an immensely powerful program and it can do much more elaborate stuff than tagging your tumblr posts, but you’ll have to learn that yourself. 

Some resources:  -AutoHotkey documentation -AutoHotkey help forum -AutoHotkey subreddit

I really hope this tutorial is somewhat clear and understandable, I’ve tried to keep it as short and on point as possible.  

[lindyhunt]

19 of the Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples We've Ever Seen [+ Template]

On any given day, most of our email inboxes are flooded with a barrage of automated email newsletters that do little else besides giving us another task to do on our commutes to work -- namely, marking them all as unread without reading, or unsubscribing altogether.

But every now and then, we get a newsletter that's so good, not only do we read it, but we click it, share it, and recommend it to our friends.

What Makes an Effective Email Marketing Campaign?

Effective email marketing campaigns need to be cleverly written to attract attention in busy inboxes. Here are three things your next email campaign should have.

Personalization and Imagery

Marketing emails also need to be personalized to the reader and filled with interesting graphics. Few people want to read emails that are addressed "Dear Sir/Madam" -- as opposed to their first or last name -- and even fewer people want to read an email that simply gives them a wall of text. Visuals help your recipients quickly understand what the point of the email is.

Responsive Design

Effective email marketing campaigns are designed for all devices on which users can read their emails -- desktop, tablet, and smartphone. Email campaigns that are designed for mobile devices are especially important -- a quality known as "responsive design." In fact, 67% of emails today are read on either a smartphone or tablet.

An Appropriate Call-to-Action

Above all, exceptional marketing emails must contain a meaningful call-to-action (CTA). After all, if brands are taking up subscribers' time -- and inbox space -- with another email, every message must have a point to it. Internet users get multiple emails per day -- why should they care about yours?

  You probably receive enough emails as it is, and it's tough to know which newsletters are worth subscribing to, so we've curated a list of some of our favorite examples. Read on to discover some great email campaign examples and what makes them great -- or just skip ahead to the brands you already know and love.

But first, download the planning template you'll need to craft your own lovable email marketing campaign.

Email Marketing Examples

charity: water: Donation Progress Update

Brooks Sports: Desiree Linden's Boston Marathon Victory

BuzzFeed: 'BuzzFeed Today' Newsletter

Uber: Calendar Integration

TheSkimm: Subscription Anniversary

Mom and Dad Money: Get to Know Your Subscribers

Poncho: Custom Weather Forecast

Birchbox: Co-marketing Promotion

Postmates: New Product

Dropbox: User Reengagement

InVision App: Weekly Blog Newsletter

Warby Parker: Product Renewal

Cook Smarts: Weekly Product Newsletter

HireVue: Customer Retention

Paperless Post: Mother's Day Promotion

Stitcher: Recommended for You

RCN: Storm Update

Trulia: Moving Trends

Redbubble: Featured Artist

P.S. - Want to get more out of your email signature? Yes -- it's possible.

1. charity: water

Marketing Campaign: Donation Progress Update

When people talk about email marketing, lots of them forget to mention transactional emails. These are the automated emails you get in your inbox after taking a certain action on a website. This could be anything from filling out a form, to purchasing a product, to updating you on the progress of your order. Often, these are plain text emails that marketers set and forget.

Well, charity: water took an alternate route. Once someone donates to a charity: water project, her money takes a long journey. Most charities don't tell you about that journey at all -- charity: water uses automated emails to show donors how their money is making an impact over time. With the project timeline and accompanying table, you don't even really need to read the email -- you know immediately where you are in the whole process so you can move onto other things in your inbox.

2. Brooks Sports

Marketing Campaign: Desiree Linden's Boston Marathon Victory

When Desiree Linden won the 2018 Boston Marathon, she became the first American woman to win the race in more than 30 years. To her shoe and apparel sponsor, Brooks Sports, it was an opportunity to celebrate their long partnership together. The resulting email campaign focuses almost entirely on the Olympic marathoner's amazing accomplishment.

Email campaigns like this one allow companies to demonstrate their loyalties and add value to the products their best users have chosen. The blue CTA button at the bottom of the email reads, "See Desiree's go-to gear." What better products to call attention to than the stuff worn by America's latest legend?

After Desiree's victory, everyone knew her name. Brooks Sports struck while the iron was hot with a proud email that was sure to be opened and forwarded.

3. BuzzFeed

Marketing Campaign: 'BuzzFeed Today' Newsletter

I already have a soft spot for BuzzFeed content ("21 Puppies so Cute You Will Literally Gasp and Then Probably Cry," anyone?), but that isn't the only reason I fell in love with its emails.

First of all, BuzzFeed has awesome subject lines and preview text. They are always short and punchy -- which fits in perfectly with the rest of BuzzFeed's content. I especially love how the preview text will accompany the subject line. For example, if the subject line is a question, the preview text is the answer. Or if the subject line is a command (like the one below), the preview text seems like the next logical thought right after it:

Once you open up an email from BuzzFeed, the copy is equally awesome. Just take a look at that glorious alt text action happening where the images should be. The email still conveys what it is supposed to convey -- and looks great -- whether you use an image or not. That's definitely something to admire.

Without images:

With images:

4. Uber

Marketing Campaign: Calendar Integration

The beauty of Uber's emails is in their simplicity. Email subscribers are alerted to deals and promotions with emails like the one you see below. We love how brief the initial description is, paired with a very clear CTA -- perfect for subscribers who are quickly skimming the email.

For the people who want to learn more, these are followed by a more detailed (but still pleasingly simple), step-by-step explanation of how the deal works.

We also love how consistent the design of Uber's emails is with its brand. Like its app, website, social media photos, and other parts of the visual branding, the emails are represented by bright colors and geometric patterns. All of its communications and marketing assets tell the brand's story -- and brand consistency is one tactic Uber's nailed in order to gain brand loyalty.

Check out the clever copywriting and email design at work in this example:

5. TheSkimm

Marketing Campaign: Subscription Anniversary

We love TheSkimm's daily newsletter -- especially its clean design and its short, punchy paragraphs. But newsletters aren't TheSkimm's only strength when it comes to email. Check out its subscriber engagement email below, which rewarded fellow marketer Ginny Mineo for being subscribed for two years.

Emails triggered by milestones, like anniversaries and birthdays, are fun to get -- who doesn't like to celebrate a special occasion? The beauty of anniversary emails, in particular, is that they don't require subscribers to input any extra data, and they can work for a variety of senders. Plus, the timeframe can be modified based on the business model.

Here, the folks at TheSkimm took it a step further by asking Mineo if she'd like to earn the title of brand ambassador as a loyal subscriber -- which would require her to share the link with ten friends, of course.

6. Mom and Dad Money

Marketing Campaign: Get to Know Your Subscribers

Think you know all about the people who are reading your marketing emails? How much of what you "know" about them is based on assumptions? The strongest buyer personas are based on insights you gather from your actual readership, through surveys, interviews, and so on -- in addition to the market research.

That's exactly what Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money does -- and he does it very, very well.

Here's an example of an email I once received from this brand. Design-wise, it's nothing special -- but that's the point. It reads just like an email from a friend or colleague asking for a quick favor.

Not only was this initial email great, but his response to my answers was even better: Within a few days of responding to the questionnaire, I received a long and detailed personal email from Matt thanking me for filling out the questionnaire and offering a ton of helpful advice and links to resources specifically catered to my answers. I was very impressed by his business acumen, communication skills, and obvious dedication to his readers.

7. Poncho

Marketing Campaign: Custom Weather Forecast

Some of the best emails out there pair super simple design with brief, clever copy. When it comes down to it, daily emails I get from Poncho -- which sends me customizable weather forecasts each morning -- takes the cake.

Poncho's emails are colorful, use delightful images and GIFs, and are very easy to scan. The copy is brief but clever with some great puns, and it aligns perfectly with the brand. Check out the copy near the bottom asking to "hang out outside of email." Hats off to Poncho for using design to better communicate its message.

8. Birchbox

Marketing Campaign: Co-marketing Promotion

The subject line of this email from beauty product subscription service Birchbox got my colleague Pam Vaughan clicking. It read: "We Forgot Something in Your February Box!" Of course, if you read the email copy below, Birchbox didn't actually forget to put that discount code in her box -- but it was certainly a clever way to get her attention.

As it turned out, the discount code was actually a bonus promo for Rent the Runway, a dress rental company that likely fits the interest profile of most Birchbox customers -- which certainly didn't disappoint. That's a great co-marketing partnership right there.

9. Postmates

Marketing Campaign: New Product

I have to say, I'm a sucker for GIFs. They're easy to consume, they catch your eye, and they have an emotional impact -- like the fun GIF in one of Postmates' emails that's not only delightful to watch, but also makes you crave some delicious Chipotle.

You, too, can use animated GIFs in your marketing to show a fun header, draw people's eyes to a certain part of the email, or display your products and services in action.

10. Dropbox

Marketing Campaign: User Reengagement

You might think it'd be hard to love an email from a company whose product you haven't been using. But Dropbox found a way to make its "come back to us!" email cute and funny, thanks to a pair of whimsical cartoons and an emoticon.

Plus, the email was kept short and sweet, to emphasize the message that Dropox didn't want to intrude -- it just wants to remind the recipient that the brand exists, and why it could be helpful. When sending these types of email, you might include an incentive for recipients to come back to using your service, like a limited-time coupon.

11. InVision App

Marketing Campaign: Weekly Blog Newsletter

Every week, the folks at InVision send a roundup of their best blog content, their favorite design links from the week, and a new opportunity to win a free t-shirt. (Seriously. They give away a new design every week.) They also sometimes have fun survey questions where they crowdsource for their blog. This week's, for example, asked subscribers what they would do if the internet didn't exist.

Not only is InVision's newsletter a great mix of content, but I also love the nice balance between images and text, making it really easy to read and mobile-friendly -- which is especially important, because its newsletters are so long. (Below is just an excerpt, but you can read through the full email here.) We like the clever copy on the call-to-action (CTA) buttons, too.

12. Warby Parker

Marketing Campaign: Product Renewal

What goes better with a new prescription than a new pair of glasses? The folks at Warby Parker made that connection very clear in their email to a friend of mine back in 2014. It's an older email, but it's such a good example of personalized email marketing that I had to include it in here.

The subject line was: "Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring." What a clever email trigger. And you've gotta love the reminder that your prescription needs updating.

Speaking of which, check out the clever co-marketing at the bottom of the email: If you don't know where to go to renew your subscription, the information for an optometrist is right in the email. Now there's no excuse not to shop for new glasses!

13. Cook Smarts

Marketing Campaign: Weekly Product Newsletter

I've been a huge fan of Cook Smarts' "Weekly Eats" newsletter for a while. The company sends yummy recipes in the form of a meal plan to my inbox every week. But I didn't just include it because of its delicious recipes -- I'm truly a fan of its emails.

I especially love the layout of Cook Smarts' emails: Each message features three distinct sections: one for the menu, one for kitchen how-to's, and one for the tips. That means you don't have to go hunting to find the most interesting part of its blog posts -- you know exactly where to look after an email or two.

I also love Cook Smarts' "Forward to a Friend" CTA in the top-right of the email. Emails are super shareable over -- you guessed it -- email, so you should also think about reminding your subscribers to forward your emails to friends, family, or coworkers.

14. HireVue

Marketing Campaign: Customer Retention

"Saying goodbye is never easy to do… So, we thought we’d give you a chance to rethink things." That was the subject of this automated unsubscribe email from HireVue. We love the simple, guilt-free messaging here, from the funny header images to the great CTA button copy.

Not only are the design and copy here top-notch, but we applaud the folks at HireVue for sending automated unsubscribe emails in the first place. It's smart to purge your subscriber lists of folks who aren't opening your email lists, because low open rates can seriously hurt email deliverability.

15. Paperless Post

Marketing Campaign: Mother's Day Promotion

When you think of "holiday email marketing," your mind might jump straight to Christmas, but there are other holidays sprinkled throughout the rest of the year that you can create campaigns around. (Download these email marketing planning templates to keep yourself organized throughout the year.)

Take the email below from Paperless Post, for example. I love the header of this email: It provides a clear CTA that includes a sense of urgency. Then, the subheader asks a question that forces recipients to think to themselves, "Wait, when is Mother's Day again? Did I buy Mom a card?" Below this copy, the simple grid design is both easy to scan and quite visually appealing. Each card picture is a CTA in and of itself -- click on any one of them, and you'll be taken to a purchase page.

16. Stitcher

Marketing Campaign: Recommended for You

As humans, we tend to crave personalized experiences. So when emails appear to be created especially for you, you feel special -- you’re not just getting what everyone else is getting. You might even feel like the company sending you the email knows you in some way, and that it cares about your preferences and making you happy.

That's why I love on-demand podcast/radio show app Stitcher's "Recommended For You" emails. I tend to listen to episodes from the same podcast instead of branching out to new ones. But Stitcher wants me to discover (and subscribe to) all the other awesome content it has -- and I probably wouldn't without this encouragement.

I think this email also makes quite a brilliant use of responsive design. The colors are bright, and it's not too hard to scroll and click -- notice the CTAs are large enough for me to hit with my thumbs. Also, the mobile email actually has features that make sense for recipients who are on their mobile device. Check out the CTA at the bottom of the email, for example: The "Open Stitcher Radio" button prompts the app to open on your phone.

17. RCN

Marketing Campaign: Storm Update

Internet providers and bad weather are natural enemies. You'd think telecommunications companies wouldn't want to call attention to storm-induced power outages -- the one thing that sets off customers' impatience. Then, there's RCN.

RCN, a cable and wireless internet service, turned this email marketing campaign into a weather forecast just for its customers. This "storm update" got the company out ahead of an event that threatened its service, while allowing its users to get the weather updates they need right from the company they count on for Wi-Fi.

As you can see below, the email even advises personal safety -- a nice touch of care to go with the promise of responsive service. At the bottom of the email, RCN also took the opportunity to highlight its social media channels, which the company appropriately uses to keep users informed of network outages.

18. Trulia

Marketing Campaign: Moving Trends

I'm a huge advocate of thought leadership. To me, some of the best companies gain customer loyalty by becoming the go-to source for expertise on a given topic. Trulia -- a property search engine for buyers, sellers, and renters -- is that expert in the real estate biz. How do I know? Just read their emails, much like the one below.

"Why aren't millennials moving?" The subject line of this email campaign reads before citing interesting data about relocation trends in the U.S. Trulia doesn't benefit from people who choose not to move, but the company does benefit from having its fingers on the pulse of the industry -- and showing it cares which way the real estate winds are blowing.

19. Redbubble

Marketing Campaign: Featured Artist

This email marketing campaign crushes it, and for so many reasons.

Not only is the design below super eye-catching -- without looking cluttered -- but the artwork is user-made. Redbubble sells merchandise featuring designs from artists all over the world. This presents a golden opportunity to feature popular submissions across the Redbubble community.

The example below showcases artwork from "Letter Shoppe," and when that artist sees Redbubble featuring her content, she's more likely to forward it to friends and colleagues.

In addition to linking to Letter Shoppe's designs (available on merchandise that is ultimately sold by Redbubble), the email campaign includes an endearing quote by the Featured Artist: "Never compromise on your values, and only do work you want to get more of." Redbubble's customers are likely to agree -- and open other emails in this campaign for more inspiring quotes.

These are just some of our favorite emails. Don't just follow best practice when it comes to your marketing emails. Every email you send from your work email address also can be optimized to convert. Try out our free email signature generator now, and check out some more of our favorite HubSpot marketing email examples.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Glugreng

My apologies for posting a bit later than usual -- I was on the road most of the day for eclipse-viewing purposes, so it's already nighttime as I start this. (Update: and also Firefox crashed multiple time over the process of writing this post.) Anyway, we've got another vaguely-described bird, but one that I think has some interesting details.

If anyone isn't sure what this post is about, you can find an explanation at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. If you want to see the entry from which the artists are working, here is the link:

And in general you can see all of this stuff as it posts at the tag "maniculum bestiaryposting", assuming Tumblr's search function wants to show it to you.

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) continues to post very impressively-rendered beasts. Here, since the only physical detail we have about this bird is "white", they've decided to take inspiration from the fact that it is kept by royal households. Medieval nobility did keep birds, usually for falconry, so here we have a raptorial design. And look, it's caught a fish! Good work, bird.

@pomrania (link to post here) observes that cataract-curing excrement is probably pretty valuable and worth collecting, so here we see a bowl with a dollar sign placed under the bird's perch. Honestly my favorite part of this is the very intense, extremely-close-up eye contact depicted in the middle there. Something about the bird needing (or just choosing) to get really up in one's personal space in order to do the curative "looking in the face" thing is charming to me.

@kaerran (link to post here) also went in the direction of "what kind of bird would be hanging around royal households" and landed on peafowl. There are a couple really clever design decisions here: it intentionally has very visible eyes so it's extra clear whether it's looking at you, and the "burning off the sickness" thing is represented as the feathers from its train being shed. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went in an interesting artistic direction, I think: since the entry was very clear that the Glugreng is "white all over", she rendered it entirely in thick white paint -- I think the texture is quite cool. Also I love the crown-collar-thing; SweetlyFez notes that she's only seen that in heraldry, and I think that is the only place it really appears. (I've seen at least one piece of marginalia that had an animal wearing a crown as a collar, but I'm like 80% sure that's someone's heraldic device being put in the illustrations for whatever reason.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) jumpscared me a bit with this one. More very intense eye contact, but this time directed at the viewer. They also made the connection royalty -> falconry, and drew a bird of prey. For more details on their thought process, please see the linked post. I like the very intense eye contact conceptually, but also I keep scrolling down so it stops Looking At Me.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has again drawn something that makes me smile -- the art style is of course amazing, and the straight-on view of the pelican just looks so charmingly goofy. They note that pelicans have "so much convenient space to store all your pesky illnesses," and now all I can think of is a medical version of that "Put Baby In Pelican Mouth" post. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) was inspired by the bestiary's decision to state that the bird is "white all over" and "has no black parts" in the same sentence. Weirdly specific, right? So they decided to explore in their post why this repetition might be necessary -- regular readers of these posts may recall that Strixcattus writes modern-naturalist-style reinterpretations of these animals. I'm not going to tell you what they came up with. Go read the linked post. Do it.

In fact, you should read all the linked posts, and consider following any or all of the wonderful artists who choose to participate in this weird little exercise.

All right, Aberdeen Bestiary time. A couple people said in their entry that they think they know what this one is, and I am excited to learn what their guesses were.

Now, since this artist tends to draw raptors in a very standardized way -- this just looks like their eagle but all white -- it's probably not possible to recognize the bird in question from this illustration. However, of course, there's a much larger problem in the way of recognizing this species:

This entry is the caladrius, which does not exist. It's another one of those mythical critters that didn't really catch on in the modern era -- or a strange misunderstanding of a real animal, like the salamander was, but honestly those aren't so much distinct categories as far as I'm concerned.

On the other hand, if you have similar Internet Experiences to me, you might have recognized it just now -- as soon as I saw the Aberdeen Bestiary illustration, I had a moment of "hang on, is that..."

The above is from the 2015 article "Two Medieval Monks Invent Bestiaries" on The Toast. You can check it out here:

(The author is now Daniel M. Lavery, but the byline on the linked article still says "Daniel Mallory Ortberg", probably because The Toast has been defunct for several years so nobody is updating these things.)

Anyway, the "bedbird" is indeed the caladrius. I was able to find the image from the Two Monks article by looking through the gallery attached to the "caladrius" entry on bestiary.ca (which has 94 examples, so it's clearly reasonably widespread). The bedbird comes from British Library MS Sloane 3544. And... I'm going to leave it up to y'all whether you think this should end with the "i've connected the two dots" gif or that quotation about the mystery no one thought was a mystery. It's late, goodnight.