MAF Newsletters

Project Duties:

  • Email campaign design

  • Visual hierarchy and layout systems

  • Brand consistency across markets

  • Campaign adaptation and versioning

  • Performance-driven iteration

Created: 2024-26

Objective:

Mid-America Festivals operates five large-scale Renaissance Festivals and approximately ten off-season events across multiple regions, with email serving as one of the primary revenue-driving communication channels. The objective of these campaigns was to design clear, brand-consistent e-newsletters for an audience of 800K+ subscribers across markets, supporting ticket sales, premium experiences, and seasonal programming within a channel that generates over $1.5M in annual revenue.

As the sole designer for Mid-America Festivals’ e-newsletter communications, I am responsible for visual design, hierarchy, and layout across all markets and seasons. Each campaign requires careful consideration of hierarchy, readability, and urgency due to varying content types, audiences, and viewing contexts.

Design decisions prioritize mobile-first readability while remaining effective on desktop. Send timing and cadence are informed by historical performance data and managed through Hive, aligning content emphasis with peak engagement windows. Accessibility is a core consideration, with attention paid to color contrast, typographic hierarchy, descriptive alt text, and scannable layouts.

The campaigns featured here represent distinct needs within the larger e-newsletter ecosystem. New in 2025 supports early-season awareness, Phantom’s Feast supports post-event engagement by driving survey participation and promoting the online webstore, Knights of Lights focuses on advance planning for a family-oriented holiday event, and Sign Language Saturday supports accessibility through a dedicated schedule program insert and color-coded site map.

While these campaigns represent a small sample of the overall e-newsletter ecosystem, they reflect the broader system and approach used across all Mid-America Festivals communications. Collectively, e-newsletters play a critical role in driving festival attendance, supporting premium offerings, and sustaining year-over-year growth across all markets.