# Design an email

Arrange blocks, apply your brand theme and preview an email before sending a test.

Use the email designer to create a template, campaign email or journey message. Arrange blocks, edit text directly in the design and preview desktop and mobile layouts before sending a test.

## Start a new email

1. Go to **Templates** and choose **New template**.
2. On **Choose where to start**, pick one of:
   - **Start from a sample**: finished emails for common jobs. Change the words, colours and images to make them yours.
   - **Plain letter**: text only, like a personal email.
   - **Blank**: only the required footer.
   - **Draft with Kiro AI**: describe the email and review a draft before editing. See [Kiro AI](/docs/guides/kiro-ai/what-kiro-ai-can-do).
   - A copy of one of your existing templates.
3. The designer opens. Nothing is saved until you choose **Save**.

When you write a campaign or a journey email, the same designer opens inside the campaign or journey. There the main button reads **Use in campaign** or **Use in journey**, and you're editing a copy that belongs to that message only.

## Find your way around

- **The bar at the top** holds the email's name, its save state, the **Design**, **Preview** and **Plain text** views, the desktop and mobile width switch, undo and redo, **Send test** and **Save**.
- **The sidebar** has three tabs when nothing is selected: **Add** (the block library), **Styles** (your email theme: colours, fonts and spacing) and **Settings**. Select a block and the sidebar shows that block's **Content** and **Style** instead.
- **The canvas** shows the email at its real width. Hover to see each block's name; click to select it.

## Add and arrange blocks

The block library is grouped like this:

| Group | Blocks |
| --- | --- |
| Basic | Heading, Text, Image, Button, Divider, Spacer |
| Layout | 2 columns, 3 columns, Image + text, Image group, Repeating list |
| Content | Logo, Boxed text, Quote, List, Product, Video, Social |
| Advanced | Custom HTML (transactional templates only) |

- Click a block to add it below the selected one, or drag it onto the canvas. You can drop blocks inside a column, too.
- Use the **+** under a selected block to add the next block right there.
- Drag a block by its grip to move it, or use the toolbar's move up, move down, duplicate and delete buttons.
- Images can be PNG, JPEG or GIF, up to 2 MB each. Uploaded images are kept in the **Media library**.

To change the words, select a block and then click its text to type straight on the email. Links, images, colours and alignment are set in the sidebar.

## Show a block only to some contacts

Select a block and set **Show this block to** to **Only contacts who match**, then add the conditions. Everyone else gets the email without that block. Use **Preview as** (below) to check both versions.

## The footer

Every email ends in a locked footer with your postal address and an unsubscribe link. You can't move or remove it. By default it shows the address from **Settings › Workspace › General**; an email that uses that address can't send until it's filled in. Kirora adds the unsubscribe link for you.

## Preview on desktop and mobile

1. Switch to **Preview** to see the email exactly as it will be sent. The sidebar shows its size and a list of **Client checks**.
2. Use the device switch for **Mobile width (375px)**. Columns stack on small screens, and you can set a separate mobile font size in a block's **Style** tab.
3. Choose **Preview as** to fill in the merge tags for a real contact, or leave it on the fallback values.
4. Switch to **Plain text** to check the text-only version that goes with every email.

## Send a test

Choose **Send test**. Tests go to you or to teammates who have joined the workspace, either one at a time or to a saved test list. Tests don't count as real sends and don't appear in your reports. For campaigns, see [Test and preview](/docs/guides/campaigns/test-and-preview).

Press Escape to clear the selection, Cmd/Ctrl + Z to undo and Cmd/Ctrl + D to duplicate the selected block. The toolbar tooltips name the other shortcuts.

Next: [Merge tags and personalisation](/docs/guides/email-designer/merge-tags-and-personalisation).