Reminding readers what made it worth subscribing.
SMH & The Age - Winback CRM Campaign
When someone unsubscribes, the job isn’t simply to ask them to come back. It’s to remind them of the value they saw in subscribing in the first place.
Building on the Minds Wide Open brand platform, we created a winback CRM program that brought the quality and craft of the publications directly into the inbox.
My role was to translate a richly art-directed campaign into a channel with very different constraints — preserving its editorial character while creating a flexible system that could support different messages, offers and audiences over time.
Rather than producing a fixed series of emails, I developed a modular design system that allowed photography, illustration, typography, animation and content to be mixed and adapted without losing the integrity of the brand.
A flexible CRM experience designed to make every interaction feel worth coming back to.
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Minds Wide Open had a distinctive visual language built around layered textures, illustration, movement and editorial photography.
The challenge was bringing that same level of craft into CRM — a channel often reduced to functional templates — without creating a watered-down version of the campaign.
I reworked the visual language specifically for email, considering hierarchy, imagery, movement and the practical limitations of the channel. Animation and GIFs helped carry the richness and energy of the wider campaign into the inbox.
The result was CRM that felt like a natural extension of the brand rather than a separate marketing channel.
The channel changed. The standard of the brand didn’t.
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A winback program needed to accommodate different readers, messages, offers and reasons to return. A handful of beautifully designed emails wouldn’t give the client enough flexibility.
So rather than designing fixed layouts, I developed a modular pick-and-mix system of interchangeable components.
Imagery, messaging, editorial content and offers could be combined in different ways, while the underlying hierarchy and art direction kept everything coherent.
It gave the client the freedom to create countless variations without having to reinvent the design every time.
Flexible enough to change. Structured enough to stay unmistakably on brand.
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Someone who has already unsubscribed doesn’t need more noise in their inbox. Every interaction has to give them a reason to reconsider.
By carrying the Minds Wide Open experience into CRM, each communication became another opportunity to reinforce the intelligence, care and quality behind the publications — while moving readers towards resubscribing.
The brand experience and the commercial objective were working together: rebuilding the reader’s sense of value rather than simply pushing another offer.
Before asking someone to come back, remind them what made it worth subscribing.
My Role
Senior Art Director
Creative Direction
Art Direction
CRM Experience Design
Brand Platform Extension
Modular Design System
Email Design
Motion & GIF Design
Information Hierarchy
Customer Communications
Design System & Rollout
Designing a flexible CRM system
To translate the layered, textural Minds Wide Open visual language into email, we developed a modular framework that could flex across different messages, content types and future campaigns. Reusable headers, hero modules, content blocks, CTAs, dividers and footers created a scalable system that kept the brand consistent while allowing each communication to feel distinct.
Soft-edged textures, layered modules and subtle overlaps helped the system avoid the hard section breaks typical of email design, creating a more seamless and editorial CRM experience.
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Creative concept, art direction, CRM journey design, UX/UI, modular email system and initial design direction.
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Agency: BMF
Client: Nine Entertainment
Design: Mina Melis, Alex Kidd
Illustration: Yoon Park