The Queen’s College Oxford: creating a digital newsletter

For a number of years, The Queen's College has produced an annual published newsletter, in both printed hard copy and digital PDF formats. However as media is becoming increasingly more digital, the marketing team saw an opportunity to move to an entirely online format and engaged Pickle Jar Communications to assist.

Our solution was to build a self-contained microsite using the Squarespace platform. This enabled us to ensure that  the newsletter didn't feel as though it was just a "news page on the main site." Instead, it had its own personality, and a distinct magazine look and feel to it - retaining existing design elements from the current format to maintain consistency and continuity

As well as massively reducing production costs by taking printing and postage out of the equation, moving the new digital platform brought a host of additional benefits including:

• More streamlined calls to action - no need to type in a URL referenced in a printed version - just follow the embedded link.

• More insights - it is now be much easier to identify user interaction with the content, such as the number of page views.

• More sharable - by promoting the newsletter through social networks, a larger audience can potentially be reached.

• More accessible - by building a digital-first version, this means that it is optimised for digital devices and much easier to read than a PDF.

The new format also allowed us to include interactive elements, such as embedded videos, while retaining a simple easily-navigable structure. It also meant that it was fully accessible on both desktop and mobile devices.

The newsletter was very popular with alumni, students, and staff. One newsletter recipient replied, "Easy to navigate and splendidly presented.”

“We enjoyed working with Pickle Jar who provided a creative and novel way to present our digital content. They turned our abstract desire for something a bit new into a reality that has been popular with all ages of alumni.  The end result effectively used our existing content alongside specially commissioned pieces and, more importantly, it delivered an enjoyable and exciting user experience at a time (immediately post-pandemic) when audiences were beginning to tire of the same old format for digital content.”

- Emily Downing, Head of Communications, The Queen’s College, University of Oxford

Website mock-up of the new digital newsletter for The Queen’s College, Oxford.