Google has made both Layouts and Multi-send available for Gmail. As of March 14, 2023, the following are the branding and usage recommendations and guidelines for their use. Neither are available for use with departmental accounts.
Layouts
There are twelve layouts to choose from for fast and simple stylized emails. Choose, “Select a layout,” when creating an email in Gmail. A “Default styling” can be configured for your desired logo, colors, font, and footer. These are our recommended settings:
Logo. Required
- We recommend “UofM-sys_lgM-D2D-wdmk-wh.png” available in the Logo Download page because of the white background. Wordmarks are only available for official University-related business.
- Your campus or unit wordmark combination logos would also be acceptable and we recommend a white or transparent background version.
- Or use a solid white pixel if you want no logo.
- Note: You must update the alt-text for the logo every time you use layouts.
Color palette
- We recommend UMN Maroon (#7a0019) or UMN Gold (#ffcc33) from our official Colors and Type.
Font
- Sans Serif
Footer
- This will replace your default signature, so include similar information. If you are sending a newsletter, include audience information so recipients know why they are receiving it.
Links
- Allows you to add links to your footer for: email, website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Multi-send
Multi-send is similar to sending a message with Mailchimp or Marketing Cloud in that each recipient is in their own conversation with the sender. Essentially a Bcc to everyone. We only recommend it for small (<50 recipients) internal newsletters.
There are a few restrictions:
- Only sendable to internal recipients.
- Cannot send outside your campus sub domains (e.g. Duluth can only send to Duluth, Crookston can only send to Crookston).
- The unsubscribe link will only give errors for recipients because of this restriction. Please remove it before sending.