Design customization

Customize your internal comms’ look and feel

HQ gives you both guardrails and freedom. Its format is proven to boost engagement. Your colors, logo, and email-safe font make it uniquely you.

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Design controls

Flexible formatting, intentional design.

Every element of an Axios HQ update is designed to keep your readers focused. From its single-column format to the line breaks between cards, we’ll take the guesswork out of what will work. All you have to think about is what goes in it.

Brand colors

Primary, secondary, and background colors

If there’s a hex code for it, HQ can do it. Choose the accent color that aligns with your brand, add it to HQ, and the flourishes in your internal communications will deliver the pop of color your readers know you for.

Advanced feature: Define more primary and secondary colors to decorate and elevate your internal communications. Set your newsletter color — using any hex code — and up to two others to customize the colors you can add to your text and what the background of your communication is.

Font and sizes

Custom font and three pre-set sizes

Expand beyond Axios HQ’s pre-loaded library of web-safe fonts. Define and designate the brand fonts your organization has installed and uniquely uses.

Advanced feature: Choose from a series of pre-formatted font sizes and sub-headers to amplify your information hierarchy.

The Axios HQ default template drawer open beside an edition, showing selectable card layouts

Flexible layout

Customize your editor for every update

Have 10 topics to cover today? HQ has you covered with 10 cards. Have one big announcement tomorrow? Try a single-item update to make it stand out.

Advanced feature: Whatever internal updates you need to share, HQ’s editor is as flexible as you are.

The Axios HQ card editor with the insert-objects menu open for adding images to a card

Image grids

Photo layouts

Grids give you even more flexibility in how you arrange and display images in your internal communications.

Advanced feature: You can still use a full-width image at the top or in the body of your cards, as well as shrink them or align them left, center, and right.

More ways to make it yours

From the header down to the footer.

Your logos

Keep your brand front and center

Keep your HQ updates high-impact. You can style your header with a simple logo or a high-touch banner so readers see — right away — the brand they know, trust, and believe in. That friendly face will guide them deeper into your update.

Headers and buttons

Card headers and buttons

Tailor each card you include in your communications. Use a headline to let readers know what’s ahead — or opt for a banner image to boost visual flair and definition. Stylized buttons draw even more attention to the CTAs that matter to you.

Custom footers

Remove HQ logos and add custom footers

Simplify and customize your HQ templates. You can remove HQ logos, then define, design, and add a custom footer — and lead your audience to the legalese or social links you care about most.

Designed to be read

Make your message stand out.

HQ helps you pull readers in, makes key details stand out, and lets your readers have moments of rest.

Clear

HQ’s two-tone design, intentional white space, and breaks between cards all help ease readers’ eyes — and create a cleaner canvas that helps readers continue to consume what you send. You pick the message, we make sure it stands out to those who need it most.

Compact

A single-column format makes sure your readers stay focused while they scroll. You organize your internal updates in a smart order with intentional hierarchy to guide readers through your update. You control what’s first, then next, and they stay engaged with it.

Creative

Images, charts, and illustrations all have an impact on reader engagement. Pick from thousands of custom illustrations, millions of stock photos, or upload your own brand imagery to a private library. You pick what’s true to your brand. HQ’s mobile-first layout makes it look great.

“Our newsletters don’t look exactly like an Axios news email might. Happy Money is quirky, and we let that brand personality come through in our voice and visuals. I get the power of Axios HQ but can still make it fit our brand.”
Laura Cullen, Director of Communications

How Happy Money earns 73% open rates on its weekly updates

Their fully distributed workforce needed a regular cadence of communication from the CEO and other leaders to stay connected and energized.

Read their case study

FAQs

More about design customizations.

How do you structure an internal newsletter?+

The strongest internal newsletters are under 1,000 words. Your read time will be 2-3 minutes, which is reasonable for many readers at the start of their day. Most newsletters share updates on 4-10 topics — the areas of your organization that have the most impact on readers. See real examples.

What should an internal newsletter contain?+

Employees say operational changes, organizational goals, and people operations updates are the most important topics they need to hear updates about. What you cover in your internal newsletter will depend on its audience, though. Focus on what your readers need, what decisions they make and work they do, and what will help them stay aligned. Survey them to pressure test your assumptions, then act on what they ask for.

How do you make an internal newsletter interesting?+

Seven steps can help keep your internal newsletters clear, effective, and engaging:

Focus on your audience.
Grab their attention.
Write like a human.
Subject-verb-object.
Be short, but not shallow.
Keep copy scannable.
Stop when enough is enough.

Hear Axios CEO Jim VandeHei’s TEDx talk on effective internal communication.

Get started with Axios HQ.

See how our AI-powered platform can help you design communications that are clear, engaging, and memorable.

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