Font and Page Layout Challenge

[Gare]

Oh, my Goodness,; just when I thought this thread was withering, I received an almost-perfectly designed email from...First National Bank. It took me a minute to Google the bank's location and lo and behold, it's in Africa, probably close to the Barrister's digs.

First, I received this nicely-typed letter, explaining that if I didn't kindly activate my ATM card—um, which I don't have—my card could be comprised. Now, I'm a PC-kinda guy and don't want an innocent card compromised, so perhaps I should open the attachment, eh?





Nahhh! See the typographic challenge here is: the choice of fonts. If you don't specify a font in email, you're sending what we call "Plain Text", there is no certainty that you message will arrive flush left, Fully Justified, or some font size you don't want.

Your document could be compromised, so any suggestions, such as using HTML formatting for the email, would be great here. Also the use of all caps 3/4 of the way through the message is just wrong. If the designer meant this to be the headline, it should be at the top of the layout, and perhaps a larger font size, right?

NOW, we're talking! The designer finally sent me a second email, with a positively knock-out layout:



I can see that this designer's company is serious about my business. And theirs, with those spiffy JPEG logos., first generation it looks like. I particularly like the section about eBucks, seeing as I have none, but the spirit of the message shouldn't be overlooked. Besides, 30,000eB must certainly amount to more than I currently have in my First National Bank account!

How do we feel about the first and second design?

Improvements? Any copywriting errors? Any copyrighting errors? Punctuation? Use of the Swiss Grid, as I taught in a Xara Xone tutorial?

C'mon, let's help this person out. They sent me two HTML attachments, and if we can't help them out with the message design, perhaps we can take a look at their website and do a little makeover, huh?