# Designed with AI

> Have the AI design a whole email in your brand — describing it, asking for changes, editing elements by hand, checking it and publishing it.

Source: https://knowledge.estage.com/email/design-with-ai/
Part of the ESTAGE knowledge base (https://knowledge.estage.com). Full corpus: https://knowledge.estage.com/llms-full.txt

---
**Designed with AI** is the message editor where you describe an email in a sentence and the AI
writes all of it: layout, type, pictures, subject line and preview line, in your project's own
colours. You then refine it by asking for changes, or by clicking any part of the email and
editing it yourself.

The result is an ordinary [message](/email/messages/): you send it as a
[broadcast](/email/broadcasts/) or from an [automation](/email/automations/) like any other.

## Starting one

1. Open **Messages** and select **New message**.
2. Choose **Designed with AI**. The editor opens with the conversation on the left and the email
   on the right.
3. Describe the email in the box — *"A welcome email for people who just signed up"* — and send
   it. Or pick one of the starters above the box: **Welcome**, **Announcement**, **Offer**,
   **Digest**, **Reminder** or **Letter**. Each fills in a request you can edit before sending.

A message keeps the editor it was created in, so a designed message always opens here.

## How a turn works

While the AI works, the panel shows your request, the steps it has taken so far and a running
clock. **Stop** ends the turn. A first design takes up to a minute or so; a change to an email
already on screen is usually quicker.

When it finishes, the email appears on the canvas and the turn in the conversation says:

- **What it did** — for example *Designed the email*, *Drew a picture*, or that it fixed some of
  its own mistakes.
- **Where the colours came from** — your project's design system, your site, your earlier
  emails, or a default palette when there is nothing to read.
- **What changed** in the email, and **what it cost** in credits.

The first design also fills in the **Subject**, the preview line and the message's name, if you
haven't set them.

### Asking for changes

Keep typing in the same box: *"make the hero shorter"*, *"add a second button for the webinar"*.
The AI works on the email as it stands, including any edits you made by hand, and remembers the
last few requests. The conversation is saved with the message, so it's still there when you or a
teammate open it later.

To change one part only, click it on the canvas first. The box then says what's selected, and
your request applies to that element. Press **Esc**, or the **×** on the chip, to talk about the
whole email again.

Use **+** beside the box to attach pictures for the AI to use — PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to
4 MB each and 3 per request.

### Going back

- **Undo** in the header (**⌘Z**, **⇧⌘Z** to redo) steps back through your edits, then through
  the AI's last turn.
- **Step back** on an AI turn returns the email to how it was before that turn, and removes that
  turn and every one after it from the conversation. You can also open a turn to see the email
  before and after it.

## Editing it yourself

Click any element on the canvas to select it. Its controls open over the conversation, and none
of these edits spend credits:

| Section | What you can change |
| --- | --- |
| **Content** | The words, a picture's **Image address** (or one from your media library) and **Description**, a button's or link's **Destination** — **Links** picks a page of your project |
| **Typography** | **Typeface**, **Size**, **Line height**, **Weight**, **Alignment**, **Letter spacing**, **Case** |
| **Colors** | **Text** and **Background**, with the email's own colours offered first |
| **Spacing** | Padding on each side |

From the element's toolbar you can also type in it directly on the canvas, duplicate it, remove
it, or edit its HTML. **Elements**, at the top of the conversation, lists everything the email is
made of so you can find and select it.

**HTML** in the header switches to the markup itself; **Design** brings you back.

### The business footer

Every marketing email carries your business details in a footer band. You can style it like any
other element, but its wording comes from your business details in **Settings** and is rewritten
each time you save — change the words there.

## Checking it before it goes out

The editor checks the email as you work — a button with no destination, a picture with no
description, a merge field that doesn't exist. The first problem shows above the box, and the
header button reads **N to fix** (or a tick when there's nothing).

Open it for **Before you send**, the full list. Select a line to jump to the element.

- **Fix N with AI** fixes the problems the AI can solve on its own. It's a turn, so it spends
  credits.
- **Fill this in** asks you for what only you know, such as where a button should go. After a
  design turn, the editor asks for these straight away.

**What the email is shown at**, next to the **Design** and **HTML** switch, shows the canvas at
**Desktop** or **Phone** width.

In the **⋯** menu, **Preview** shows the email as it will be sent, **Email settings** holds the
**Subject**, **Preview line** and **Internal name**, and on a saved message **Send a test**
delivers a real copy — see [Checking it before it goes out](/email/messages/#checking-it-before-it-goes-out).

## Saving and sending it

The message is kept as a draft as soon as there's something in it. Select **Create message**,
or **Publish** once it has been kept, to make this version the one broadcasts and automations
send. Name and subject are required; the AI fills both on the first design.

After that, edits follow the same rules as any message: they're kept as you go and go out only
when you **Publish** — see [Publishing changes](/email/messages/#publishing-changes).

## Things worth knowing

- **It uses your AI credits.** Designing an email from a sentence costs at least 24 credits, and
  a change or a question about an email on screen at least 8; a turn that does more work, such as
  drawing pictures, costs more. Each turn shows what it cost, and spending appears under
  **CRM AI** in [Allocation & credits](/account/credits/).
- **Editing by hand is free.** Only requests to the AI spend credits.
- **Nothing is sent from the editor.** A designed message goes out only from a broadcast, an
  automation step or a test send.
- **Your brand comes from your project.** Colours are read from your project's design system or
  site, or from your earlier emails; if the turn says it used the default palette, your project
  had nothing it could read. The email opens with the logo from your business details in
  **Settings**, when one is set.

Related: [Messages](/email/messages/) · [From the marketplace](/email/marketplace/)