Creating Emails with AI in Postcards


The AI Generator builds complete, editable email templates from a plain-language description. Tell it what you need — a product launch, a newsletter, an event invite — and it assembles a full design with layout, copy, and images that you can keep editing like any other Postcards project.

It's not a one-shot tool. After the first generation you can keep talking to it: refine sections, rewrite copy, swap the color scheme, or point at a specific element and ask for a change.

Note: The AI Generator runs on AI credits, which are included with paid plans. If your workspace is on the free plan, you'll be prompted to upgrade before generating. See Understanding AI Credits.

Three Ways to Start

Create a new email from scratch. On your dashboard, click + Create → Create With AI, or simply click the Generate with AI card in the Templates section. Either way, you'll get an empty canvas with the AI chat open, ready for your description.

Remix an existing project. On any project card, open the ••• menu → Remix With AI. This opens that project with the AI chat ready, so you can ask for a new version while keeping the design's look and feel. It's the fastest way to turn one email into a variant — same styling, different purpose.

Open the assistant inside the editor. While working on any project, click the magic-wand icon in the top bar to open the AI chat at any time.

Writing Your First Prompt

The chat panel opens with the prompt box at the bottom and a few starter suggestions under Try one of these — like Weekly newsletter with curated stories or Event invitation with RSVP button. Click one to use it as-is, or write your own.

Describe what you want in plain language. The more specific you are about purpose, content, and tone, the closer the first result will be.

Example prompts to get started:

  • Create a product launch email for a fictional coffee brand announcing a new single-origin blend. Include a hero image, a short intro, three product highlights, a customer quote, and a footer with social links.
  • Build a monthly newsletter for a design studio with a featured article, three shorter link blocks, and a clean minimal layout.
  • Write a welcome email for new sign-ups to a fitness app — friendly tone, a short getting-started checklist, and a "Start your first workout" button.
  • Create an event invitation for a summer boat show with the dates, location, a large hero image, and an RSVP button.
  • Design an abandoned-cart email with a product image, a gentle reminder, a discount code, and a clear "Complete your order" button.

Tip: Include the details you already know — brand name, dates, discount amounts, button text. The AI will use them rather than inventing placeholders you'll have to replace.

Stopping a generation. Generating takes a few moments, and the template streams onto the canvas as it builds. If you change your mind — wrong prompt, or you can already see it's not the direction you wanted — you can stop the generation while it's running.

Choosing a Model

Below the prompt box there's a model picker with two options:

  • Basic — faster and cheaper. A good default for most emails.
  • Ultra — more capable, for complex layouts or when you want the closest match to a detailed brief.

Tip: Start with Basic. If the result isn't structured the way you wanted, or your brief is long and detailed, run it again with Ultra.

Auto-enhance your prompt

When Ultra is selected, a sparkle icon appears next to the prompt box. Type your prompt and click it, and the AI rewrites your description into a more detailed brief before generating — useful when you know roughly what you want but aren't sure how to describe it.

Enhancing uses a small number of credits of its own, shown before it runs. Because the request completes on our side even if you navigate away, the charge applies once you've started it.

Example — a short prompt:

black friday sale email for a shoe store

After auto-enhance, that becomes a fuller brief specifying the hero, discount messaging, product grid, urgency element, and CTA — and the generated result is correspondingly richer.

Attaching a Brand Preset

Click the Brand Preset button at the bottom-left of the prompt box to attach one of your saved presets. The AI will then generate using your colors, fonts, and styling instead of picking its own — the easiest way to get on-brand results on the first try.

See Brand Presets for how to set them up.

Example:

Create a spring promotion email for our garden supplies range with a hero image, three featured products, and a "Shop the collection" button.

With a Brand Preset attached, that generates in your brand's palette and typography rather than a generic style.

Refining with Follow-Up Prompts

After the first generation, the chat stays open — and follow-up prompts refine the current template rather than starting over. This is where most of the work happens.

My example: Tighten the header — reduce the space above and below the logo, and add a small navigation row underneath with "Collections", "Craftsmanship", and "Stockists" in brass.

Example follow-ups:

  • Make the headline shorter and punchier.
  • Swap the hero image for something with more natural light.
  • Tighten the spacing between the header and the hero — it feels too airy.
  • Add a testimonial section between the product grid and the footer.
  • Change the button text to "Reserve your spot" and make the buttons dark green.
  • Add a second call-to-action near the bottom of the email.
  • Rewrite the intro paragraph in a more casual, conversational tone.

You can also ask questions instead of requesting changes — the assistant can advise on design, color, copy, and email best practices:

  • Is this email too image-heavy for good deliverability?
  • What subject line would suit this template?
  • Does this color combination have enough contrast to be readable?

Referencing a Specific Element

To change one specific part of the design instead of describing it in words, Cmd/Ctrl-click any element on the canvas to attach it to your prompt. The element appears as a chip above the prompt box, so the AI knows exactly what you mean.

My example — with the Hero attached:

  • Replace the photo with a moodier watch shot that has clear dark space for text.
  • Cut the paragraph to two short sentences, max 25 words. Position the headline, paragraph, and button on the dark area of the photo so no text sits over the watch dial.
  • Darken the photo slightly so the white text reads cleanly. Give the button a thin brass outline instead of a solid fill, aligned with the text.


This is far more precise than describing the location in text, especially in long templates with repeated sections.

Restyling Without Using Credits

Once your template is generated, click Customize to restyle it without spending any credits.

The panel gives you:

  • Palette — swap the entire color scheme
  • Typography — apply a different font pairing
  • Imagery — change the image style (photos, illustrations, abstract, etc.)
  • Text scale — adjust overall text size

Changes can be applied per section or across the whole design, and reset at any time.

Tip: Try Customize before regenerating. If you like the structure but not the look, restyling here is instant and free — regenerating costs credits and may change the layout you already liked.

Once you're happy with the result, you're done with the AI — what you have is a normal Postcards project.

Every module, image, and text block is fully editable with the regular editor tools, so you can fine-tune spacing, swap images from your Image Library, adjust colors, or restructure sections by hand. Nothing is locked or special about an AI-generated template: from here it behaves exactly like one you built from scratch.

Images in Generated Templates

The AI sources and generates images to match your email's content automatically. When you finish and click Done, those images are saved to your workspace's Image Library, so they're available in other projects too.

See Postcards Image Library for managing them.

Credits and Usage

Each generation's cost is dynamic — it depends on the complexity of what you asked for, and Ultra costs more than Basic. The cost of every run is shown in the chat alongside the result.

  • Stopping a generation is free. If you press Stop mid-run, you're not charged.
  • Failed generations are free. If something goes wrong on our side, no credits are deducted.
  • Check your history. Open Usage history from your profile menu to see your recent AI requests and what each one cost. Click a generation to reopen it in the chat with the same prompt pre-filled — handy for rerunning a good prompt with different wording.
  • If you run out, Postcards shows your options for adding credits or upgrading.

For the full picture, see Understanding AI Credits.

Tips for Better Results

  • Describe the purpose, not just the look. "Welcome email for new sign-ups with a getting-started checklist" beats "a nice blue email."
  • Give real content. Actual product names, dates, and CTA text produce a template that's closer to ready-to-send.
  • Iterate in small steps. One change per follow-up is easier to steer than five at once.
  • Attach a Brand Preset early so you're not restyling everything afterward.
  • Use Customize for look, prompts for structure. Colors and fonts are free to change; layout changes need a generation.
  • Reference elements instead of describing them when you're editing a specific part.
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