Crisis communication email templates — visual quick-reference card

A single-sided premium reference card with the dimensions and feel of a hardback book jacket, printed on heavyweight uncoated stock with a soft matte finish. The background is a warm off-white (#F7F4EE) with a subtle letterpress impression that gives the card a tactile, deliberate weight. **Header (top quarter):** A slim horizontal rule sits 40px from the top edge. Above it, in a small uppercase tracked monospace typeface: "COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL // REV 4.2." Below the rule, the main title in a refined editorial serif at 38pt: "Crisis Communication Email Templates." Beneath the title, a single-line deck in a warm slate sans-serif at 11pt: "Five scenarios. Five templates. Written before you need them." **Five scenario blocks (main body):** The card is organized into a clean 5-column grid, each column a vertical block 130px wide, with 18px gutters between them. Each column is topped with a 6px color band and labeled with the scenario name in a bold sans-serif at 13pt. 1. **Service Outage** — burnt sienna (#C1582E) band 2. **Data Incident** — deep crimson (#922B3B) band 3. **Executive Departure** — slate blue (#3E5A7C) band 4. **Product Recall** — ochre (#B8872E) band 5. **Public Misstep** — muted plum (#6B3B5E) band Within each column, four labeled micro-sections arranged vertically with tight leading: - **Subject line formula** (with a sample in italics) - **Opening sentence** (one sentence, set in a slightly larger serif for emphasis) - **Required structural elements** (a small bulleted list with 3-4 items: what we know / what we don't / what we're doing / when the next update comes) - **Tone guardrails** (a monospace callout with 2-3 short rules, e.g. "Never speculate. Never blame. Never apologize for something you didn't do — and always apologize for something you did.") **Example — Service Outage column:** Subject: "Update on [service_name] — [timestamp]." Opening: "At [time], [service] became unavailable. Here is what we know right now." Structural: (1) Confirmed impact (2) Confirmed cause if verified, otherwise "investigating" (3) Current action (4) Time of next update. Guardrail: "Time first. Cause second. Promise only what you can prove." **Side column (right edge):** A narrow 90px vertical strip contains the "Universal Rules" in a small-caps serif at 9pt with generous leading: "Lead with the facts you can confirm. Name the feeling the reader is having. Give them the next update time. Sign with a real human. Never use the word 'unfortunately.' Never end with 'Thank you for your patience.'" **Footer (bottom 80px):** A thin hairline rule separates the card from a two-line footer. Left-aligned in small tracked monospace: "DRAFT BEFORE THE CRISIS. REVISE QUARTERLY. KEEP ON FILE." Right-aligned: a small icon of an envelope with a clock superimposed, beside the text "Template library v4.2 — Communications Office." **Accent elements:** A subtle perforation line and dotted border frame the outer edge of the card at 12px in from each side, giving it the feel of an emergency tear-out card you might keep in a binder. A very small single-color stamp in the top-right corner reads "CONFIDENTIAL — INTERNAL USE" in muted graphite. Typography: headings in Canela or Lyon Display (high-contrast editorial serif); body and labels in Söhne or Inter Tight; monospace accents in JetBrains Mono. Print-ready at 5x7 inches (tabloid quarter-fold) at 300dpi, CMYK with spot Pantone Warm Gray 11 for the hairlines. The overall visual tone is confident, calm, library-grade — the opposite of panic.