Welcome To Valcin Studios

Hi, we’re Valcin Studios, and welcome to our hopefully not so boring ‘Ways of Working’ guide.

This is not just about rules. It is here to make sure our collaboration around email marketing design is joyful, productive, and stress free.

Whether we’re creating a one off email campaign or working together month to month on an ongoing email design support, this guide will help you know exactly what to expect, how to get the best results from our process, and what will keep us all aligned and on track.

Think of it as a friendly map so we always know where we are going, how we will get there, and what it takes to create effective, high performing email designs together.

How We Might Work Together

One off Projects
We offer one off projects for email campaigns, email template design, and launch focused email marketing.

Our timelines vary depending on the scope. Most custom email design projects take a few weeks from concept through to final delivery.

We work through clear stages in our email design process with set milestones, so we always know what is coming next.

Retainers
Our monthly retainer is perfect if you need regular email design support. Instead of paying for each project, you book our design time every month. You can use that time for anything you need, including email campaigns, automated emails, newsletters, or updating your existing email templates.

Everything is managed through Google Workspace, making it easy to share files, leave feedback, approve designs, and keep all
communication in one place. This keeps the whole process simple, organised, and easy to follow.

Communication

Quick Questions - Send via email

Response Times - We aim to reply promptly, but if you don’t hear back in 2 days, give us a gentle nudge.

Email - We use clear subject lines so we can quickly see what is urgent and what can wait. Specific subjects like “Email campaign banner by Thursday” help us prioritise faster than general messages like “Quick question.”

Weekly Updates - We’ll send a round-up email every week with progress, upcoming deadlines, and anything we need from you no chasing required.

Weekly Email Example

Weekly Email Example
Hey!
It’s time for your weekly email update. Think of this as a behind-the-scenes look
at what we’re designing and optimizing to help your emails convert.
This week’s focus:
•
What we need from you:
•
Have feedback, ideas, or inspiration? Just hit reply, we’re always happy to
collaborate.
Until next time, you keep doing what you do best, and we’ll keep creating
strategic, scroll-stopping emails that make your brand shine.
Talk soon,
[Alex]

The Creative Process (One-Off Projects)

Here’s how we work together, step by step:
We begin by getting completely aligned on your goals, audience, offers, and deliverables. The stronger the brief, the stronger the results.

Brief - We define clear goals for your email campaign, from strategy to conversions.

Design Concepts - We create strategic email design concepts based on your brief, built to look good and perform well.

You'll receive 3 rounds of revisions with every project.
● Round 1: You send your feedback, and we make the changes.
● Round 2: You review the updates and send any final changes.
● Round 3: We make the last tweaks and prepare everything for delivery.
Please send all your feedback together each round to help keep the project moving.
Any revisions beyond the 3 included rounds are charged at £60

The Creative Process (Retainers)

How Our Retainers Work
Flexible Support
Our monthly retainers are designed to give you ongoing email design support without the back and forth of fixed revision rounds. Instead, we use your monthly design time to complete the tasks that matter most, whether that's creating email campaigns, designing automated flows, updating templates, or making changes to existing emails.

Submitting Requests
Simply add your requests to our shared Google Workspace. You can leave comments, upload files, and provide feedback all in one place, making it easy for us to stay organised and keep your projects moving.

Time Tracking
We keep track of the time used each month, so you always know how much of your retainer has been used and how much time you have left.

Priority Requests
If something needs to be done quickly, we can prioritise it where possible. To make the best use of your monthly hours, we recommend sending tasks together whenever you can. This helps us work more efficiently and deliver better results.

If You’re Not Loving The Design Work

We want you to feel genuinely excited about the email marketing work we’re creating together, so if something doesn’t feel quite right:

Flag it early
The sooner you let us know, the easier it is for us to adjust and keep the project moving in the right direction.

Be specific
Clear feedback helps us refine faster. Saying something like “this layout feels too corporate” gives us much more direction than simply saying it doesn’t feel right.

Explain the why
Understanding why something isn’t working helps us design a better solution that fits your brand and audience.

Share visual cues
Examples, references, or emails you like are always helpful. Seeing what feels on brand to you helps us align more quickly.

Trust the process
Sometimes the best performing email designs come from exploring a few directions before we land on the right solution. When we stay open and collaborative, that’s when the strongest work comes together.

If The Process Isn’t Working For You

Tell Us Early
If something isn't working for you, let us know as soon as possible. The sooner we know, the sooner we can improve it.

Be Clear
Whether it's communication, turnaround times, or the way we manage projects, we'll always listen to your feedback and find a better way to work together.

We'll Adapt
Everyone works differently. If there's a simpler way for us to communicate or manage your projects using Google Workspace, we're happy to adjust where it makes sense.

Keep Things Running Smoothly
Our goal is to make the process as easy as possible, so you can focus on your business while we take care of your email design. We'll work together to keep everything organised, efficient, and on schedule.

Urgent Requests

We understand that sometimes things move fast and you need an email designed or updated quickly.

For one off projects, urgent requests are often possible but may require a rush fee, as we may need to rearrange our schedule to prioritise your work.

For retainer clients, urgent requests can usually be accommodated within your allocated time, but we still recommend checking with us first to confirm availability.

Before sending an urgent request, it helps to consider whether it is truly time sensitive or simply something you are excited to launch. This helps us prioritise effectively and deliver the best possible work when you need it.

Some Fun Bits

We love celebrating project milestones and you might see the occasional GIF or meme land in your inbox along the way.

We genuinely get excited when your email marketing starts to click, especially when your brand voice and visuals come together in a way that feels clear, confident, and unmistakably you. We’re not just your email designers, we’re your hype team too.

We love seeing your campaigns out in the world, so feel free to share your wins with us. Tag us when you launch and with your permission we may celebrate and share it too.

Final Thoughts

We’re human and occasionally things can be missed, but we’re always transparent and quick to put them right.

We genuinely care about creating email marketing designs you feel proud to send, work that reflects your brand and connects with your audience in a meaningful way.

We see this as a collaborative partnership, and when we all show up with clarity, openness, and enthusiasm, that’s when the best results happen.

We’ve been told that we make email design feel less overwhelming and a lot more enjoyable.