Last Updated: Oct 27, 2023
I came across a very promising company a while ago. They create web development and design apps and solutions for brands and entrepreneurs of all sizes. Websites and email builders designed for developers and non-tech users, in addition to services such as the marketplace and the job board.
As they describe it, DesignModo helps businesses grow with their website and email design tools.
And they continue…powerfully simple apps that anyone can use. Whether you are a freelancer, small startup, or a global enterprise, our design solutions make the gears go faster for any business.
They offer 3 main products: postcards, slides, and startup. There are web design and email marketing guides, tutorials, articles, case studies, and so much more.
I suggest that you also watch the full video walkthrough to get familiar with their products.
Can they live up to their promises?
Let’s dive right in!
DesignModo Review
Video Review
The Homepage
Main slogans:
- Save time and money making websites and emails, so you can focus on your business
- Trusted by the biggest players in the game
- We help you get better at web design and email marketing: detailed tutorials, inspiration, case studies and opinions
- Create a free account to get access and start creating something amazing right now!
- Hire professional web designers and developers for full-time or remote work
- This website design and code was built using our tools. Treat it as a proof of concept
The product line:
- Postcards: powerfully simple email template builder
- Slides: website builder for animated static webpages
- StartUp: Drag & drop bootstrap template builder for beautiful websites and landing pages
About
Founded in August of 2010 by Andrian Valeanu. Other team members:
- Sergey Shmidt: product designer
- Edvard Khondkaryan: managing partner, marketing
- Dmitry Kotov: product manager
- Marat Mukhamedshin: front-end developer
- Diana Valeanu: graphic designer
- Denis Shepovalov: product designer
- Maxim Kirpichev: web developer
- Dmitry Vinnichuk: designer
- Carrie Cousins: writer and editor
- Paula Borowska: writer
- Nataly Birch: writer
Locations:
- US: Designmodo Inc, 50 N 1st St, 4i
Brooklyn, NY 11249 - Europe: Avenida Diagonal 82
08019 Barcelona, Spain
Trusted By
- Adobe
- Nike
- Ikea
- T Mobile
- Microsoft
- Nasa
- GoDaddy
- Disney
- Yahoo
Statistics
- 800K monthly visitors
- 27K+ daily viewers
- 53K+ happy customers
- 550K+ social media followers
- 320K+ email subscribers
- 15K+ github stars
- 5.2M freebie downloads
- 1.7K published articles
- 99.99% uptime
Social media followers
Published articles
Happy customers
#1 Postcards
A simple tool to create emails and newsletters
The dashboard:
- On the top left-hand side, there is the “Project” button, where you can load your projects.
- Next to it, there is a save button
- On the top-right hand corner, the “Export” button, where you can export the project either to Mailchimp or Hubspot, or you can download the files in a zip archive. Also, you can host images online if you have an “Agency” plan active
- Next to it, there is a “Preview” button, that you can use to preview the project in your browser, or as an email preview. Options (desktop, mobile)
- Next to it, there is the bell icon, it’s the changelog
- Next to it, there is the profile icon with your photo (profile, team, privacy, logout)
- Next to it, there is a “Plus” button, you can add team members, and invite more people
- On the left-hand sidebar, we have the “Menu” button. It contains design elements you can use as your menu
- Under it, there is the “Header” button
- Then we have these buttons: header, content, feature, call-to-action, eCommerce, transactional, footer
- On the right-hand sidebar, the first option is the “Modules style”. You can choose between card and list
- Then we have the inner spacing feature
- Then we can choose a background color from the palette and we can copy our favorite color code
- Next, is the background image button to upload images
- Then we have the button color
- Then we have the font
- The preheader text
- And the last is where you can add your own custom code
The Canvas:
- You can drag and drop design elements into the empty canvas.
- Every element you add to the canvas is a separate section, a block
- When you hover over an element, it shows you what element is that and a “3-dots” icon appear that you can click to customize the element (section)
- You can also copy, duplicate, and delete an element
- All the elements are fully customizable
- You can customize general settings: outer spacing, inner spacing, background color
- You can customize the logo: upload an image, direct URL, width, height, alternate text, logo link
- You can customize the social network icons
- You can customize your menus and add pages from your website
- You can customize all text areas: titles, subtitles, body text
- You can posts (pages from your blog) or landing pages to related modules (elements)
- You can upload icon images or link to specific URL’s on your website
- You can add and edit product images, with prices, buttons
- You can customize the footer that is divided into columns
Free vs premium:
- The premium version unlocks all design elements
- Free members can only use 1 menu element, 1 header, 1 content block, 1 feature, 1 call-to-action, 1 eCommerce, 1 transactional, 1 footer
Important:
Free members can see how the locked items look like, so they know exactly what they are getting if they decide to purchase the full license
I suggest that you also watch the full video walkthrough where I create an email newsletter using postcards.
Features
Rich drag and drop builder allows you to create and customize email marketing templates up to modern standards.
- Drag n drop template builder: Stack desired modules together in order to create a template structure right.
- Edit text and images:
- Export to your favorite ESP (email service provider) or as a plain HTML created)
- 100+ customizable email template modules: Building emails, use our field-tested layouts and customize them to make your campaign stand out.
- Collaborate with teammates
- Version history
- Modular system
- Manage your content
- Project management
- Mobile-ready
- Cloud image hosting
- Unlimited exports
- Google fonts
- Direct email preview
- Clean code
- Retina-ready
- External image support
- To any device: Our email builder’s design modules have been extensively tested with Litmus and Email On Acid to make sure they render perfectly for any device, email client or a service provider (gmail/inbox, iPhone mail app, iPad mail app, Apple mail, Outlook, Android, Thunderbird, Windows mail, AOL, Tahoo mail, Outlook 2003-2016, Outlook express, Lotus notes 8/8.5, Opera mail, Live mail, Yahoo! mail)
License
- Demo license: Create email templates for yourself for non-commercial purposes, limited modules.
- Business license: Create email templates for yourself or your company for commercial purposes.
- Agency license: Create email templates for you and your clients for commercial purposes.
Do not use the postcards app for these purposes:
- Partially or completely sell or share the code of the Postcards on any website or torrent.
- Create templates based on Postcards code for sale on your website or any marketplace.
- Create generators or editors based on the Postcards templates.
My email newsletter
This is the email newsletter I designed using the app. Click the button below to open it in a new tab, in full size, HTML format.
Postcards Pricing Plans
Free
No credit card needed- 1 user
- 10+ free modules
- Edit content without coding
- Keep and load your projects
- No credit card needed
Business
$219 billed annually, save $69- 1 user
- Only for 1 brand
- Mailchimp integration
- HubSpot integration
- Direct email preview
- Unlimited projects
- 20 exports per month
Agency
$349 billed annually. Save $119- 5 users
- Multiple brands/projects
- Mailchimp integration
- HubSpot integration
- Free image hosting
- Direct email preview
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited exports
#2 Slides
Generate beautiful, animated, static websites with your creative direction in a matter of minutes. Yes, minutes.
#2 product of the month – ProductHunt.
The dashboard:
- On the top left-hand side, there is the “S-Menu” button, where you can load your projects, add new pages, read the changelog, get help (FAQ, manual, keyboard shortcuts, first steps, tutorials, talk to the team), night mode, account, logout
- Next to it, there is a pages button, where you can return to the previous page to browse your pages
- Next to it, the 3 dots button: page settings, uploads history, SVG library, download, duplicate, delete
- Next to it, “Upgrade” button
- On the top-right hand corner, the “Preview” button
- Next to it, there is a “Template” button: templates count, and editing the templates (top panel, slides, bottom panel)
- On the left-hand sidebar, we have the “Navigation” menu. There are 6 sections (slides, animation, panels, navigation, styles, other settings – SVG library, content preloader, simplified mobile, anchor links, optimizing assets, scripts on the body, styles on the body)
- On the right-hand sidebar, there is nothing, but when you click the “Templates” button, this is where the templates settings open up.
The Canvas:
Here, we don’t have an empty canvas option, like the postcards application.
The canvas contains all the sections described above (slides, animation, panels, navigation, styles, other settings)
Free vs premium:
- The premium version unlocks all design elements
- Free members can only use 12 slides, 2 animations, 3 top panels, 3 bottom panels, 1 side navigation, 1 style, and they can’t change the additional settings
Important:
Free members can see how the locked items look like, so they know exactly what they are getting if they decide to purchase the full license
I suggest that you also watch the full video walkthrough where I use the slides app.
Features
Catapult your idea with a sleek presentation. Mix and match the layout from a huge collection of slides to present your idea elegantly and persuasively.
200 slides, 118 examples, 30 panels.
Clean-looking code that works really fast.
PageSpeed: desktop 98, mobile 95.
License
- Demo license: You can use the free version for demo purposes only
- Paid license: For unlimited websites/domains. No limitations on the number of pages or exports.
- Special license: chat with them.
Do not use the postcards app for these purposes:
- For website/app generators
- Don’t offer the framework to users of your hosting or blogging service
- Templates, themes, and plugins for sale
My slides project
My project using the slides app in video format.
Slides Pricing Plans
Free
No credit card needed- Limited slides
- Limited settings
- Limited effects
- No support
Business
$249 billed annually, save $99- 20 exports per month
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited pages
- Project management
- Support and updates
Agency
$349 billed annually. Save $119- Unlimited exports
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited pages
- Project management
- Support and updates
#3 Startup
A simple bootstrap builder for everyone. Create websites online using the Startup Bootstrap builder. It’s a fast and easy way to start your business presence online, with the help of pre-designed blocks. 27K customers, 300+ blocks, award-winning app, regularly updated, #1 product on the week – ProductHunt.
The dashboard:
- On the top left-hand side, there is the “Pages” button, where you create new pages and save them
- On the top-right hand corner, the “Export” button
- Next to it, there is a “double arrow” button: hide/reveal sidebars
- Next to it, the “3-dots” button: preview, random, clear, save
- On the left-hand sidebar, we have the “Navigation” menu. There are 15 sections (headers, navigations, contents, blog, features, forms, applications, showcases, eCommerce, call to action, testimonials, pricing tables, teams, contacts, footers)
- On the right-hand sidebar, first, we have the apply preset button (colorful, pastel, brutalism, simple, old town, magazine)
- Underneath, we have the fonts section
- Then, the colors
- And lastly, is the animation tab (fade, speed, style)
- At the bottom bar: chat with DesignModo, help, documentation, buy, changelog, terms, license, account)
The Canvas:
You drag and drop design elements from the navigation menu to the empty canvas.
Every design element (section) is customizable, and you can drag it under or over other sections, duplicate it, delete it.
Free vs premium:
- The premium version unlocks all design elements
- Free members can only use 2 headers, 2 navigations, 2 contents, 2 blogs, 2 features, 2 forms, 2 applications, 2 showcases, 2 eCommerce, 2 calls to action, 2 testimonials, 2 pricing tables, 2 teams, 2 contacts, 2 footers
Important:
Free members can see how the locked items look like, so they know exactly what they are getting if they decide to purchase the full license
I suggest that you also watch the full video walkthrough where I use the startup app.
Features
- Build-in minutes: Zero learning curve. Start building a beautiful Bootstrap website with an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface.
- A lot of blocks: 300+ blocks with pre-designed and pre-coded elements and styles you can easily customize.
- Elements: headers, navigations, contents, blog, features, forms, applications, showcases, eCommerce, call to action, testimonials, pricing tables, teams, contacts, footers
- Optimized for mobile: It works and looks beautiful on all devices – including mobile. No extra effort required.
- Changelog.
- Retina-ready.
- Easy exporting.
- Integrations: Telegram, Viber, Mailchimp, Brevo, Hubspot, Google ReCaptcha
- Edit content online (With the Bootstrap Editor you can edit and customize content visually, so there’s no need for a backend content system. Once you’ve finished the customizations, you can export and publish your website).
- Change the style globally.
- Publish new content fast.
- Download the design.
- Control the HTML, CSS, Sass, and JavaScript directly in the Startup Bootstrap builder. Change animations and styles visually without touching the code, and we’ll convert your Bootstrap theme design into a clean and understandable code that’s ready to export and publish online.
- Responsive design: You build your website without worrying about mobile-ready optimization.
- Styles: Styles functionality will help you to customize your website quickly.
- Detailed documentation (guides, integrations).
- Built on BootStrap 4.
- Online editor.
- Pre-designed blocks.
- Export sources.
- Unlimited styles.
- Google fonts.
Future features:
- Change the style of the elements
- New “portfolio” category
- New blocks
- BootStrap 5 support
License
The Startup License is simple. Use Startup for multiple projects, both personal and commercial purposes.
Don’t use startup:
- For website/app generators
- Redistribute or sell startup or source files
- Offer it to users of your hosting or blogging service
- Create templates, themes, and plugins for sale or free distribution
Update January 26, 2021
Startup 4 update:
- Adding different UI elements
- Cloning and removing elements
- Moving elements up and down
- Organising elements into hierarchies
- Editing all element options
My startup project
This is the page I created using the app. Video and screenshot.
Startup Pricing Plans
Free
No credit card needed- Full access to all features
- Demo components
- Free Figma sources
- Support
Business
$249 billed annually, save $99- 20 exports per month
- Full access to all features
- All components
- Free Figma sources
- Priority support
Agency
$349 billed annually. Save $119- Unlimited exports
- Full access to all features
- All components
- Free Figma sources
- Priority support
Static Pages
A WordPress plugin. A simple solution to set a static web page with a custom URL in WordPress.
Static sites are the most basic type of website and are the easiest to create. Unlike dynamic websites, they do not require any web programming* or database design.
A static site can be built by simply creating a few HTML pages and publishing them to a web server.
* HTML is a markup language; CSS is a style sheet language; and JavaScript is a scripting language.
They describe the problem:
We know that people are struggling with the task of creating static pages. We receive a lot of questions from users to help them install static pages on their current WordPress website. But there was no solution we could offer, except to hire a coder to make a “custom theme.”
The solution: Static Pages allows you to publish any static page on a WordPress website with any URL in a matter of seconds. And it is perfect for SEO.
How it works:
- Download & install
- Upload website archive
- Set a URL
Features:
- Multi-page support
- Unlimited websites
- Dynamic brackets
- Set a URL you need
- Replace on the fly
- Your code with no mess
- Structure you know
- Swift fixes with an editor
- Free forever for DesignModo customers (slides or startup)
- $49 per year – unlimited everything
You can purchase Slides or Startup first, and get the Static Pages plugin later.
The Job Board
Remote and full-time jobs for web designers and developers. Filter by: location, company, or skills, role, type.
There are also categories: top jobs, designers, developers, other.
Examples of positions:
- Product designer – full-time, Toronto, Canada, 2 months ago
- Front-end developer – remotely, Worldwide, 2 months ago
- Community support engineer – remotely, remote, 2 months ago
- UI developer – full-time, South Korea, 2 months ago
You can post a job. Listing options:
- Subscription: $19/mo (keep my job up until I hire someone)
- One-time payment: $29 (keep my job up for 30 days)
- Boost promotion: $99 (pinned at the top of the job list, displayed on the main page sidebar, one spot in the newsletter (320K+ readers every month)
Help/Contact/Social
Help topics:
- General
- Postcards
- Slides
- Startup
- Static pages for WordPress
You will also find:
- The postcards FAQ page
- The slides FAQ page
- The startup FAQ page
There are video tutorials for the postcards app on YouTube.
The slides app has a very detailed manual as well for every element in the navigation. It will help you get started.
There are video tutorials for the slides app on YouTube.
They provide free Figma sources for the startup app (All the components created with care in Figma, and available for non-commercial use).
The startup app has a very detailed documentation page.
You can contact them directly using the live chat option.
Or you can send them an email via the contact page.
They are active on these social channels:
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Dribbble, Medium.
Articles
Newsletter templates:
- Free HTML email newsletter templates
- The heart of email marketing
- Principles of great design
- Types of newsletters
- Structure
- and so much more
Bootstrap templates:
- Free Bootstrap templates and themes
- How to use them
- The best place to download them
Static website templates:
- Free static HTML website templates
- Best free templates
- Static website templates available with premium subscription
- Templates with sliding effect
- Make mobile apps stand out
- and more
Coding (most popular articles):
- Bootstrap 5
- How to migrate from Bootstrap version 3 to 4
- Tabbed widgets in web design
- JavaScript unit testing for beginners
- CSS3 and jQuery loading animations, examples, and plugins
Design (most popular articles):
- Top 11 web design and UI trends for 2020
- 17 tips for designing with type on a photo
- Free HTML email newsletter templates
- Responsive web design: 50 examples and best practices
- How to create a web design style guide
App design (22 articles)
E#mail design (60 articles)
Responsive design (20 articles)
UX design (92 articles)
WQEbsite design (84 articles)
Freebies:
- Icons (10 articles)
- UI kits (11 articles)
Tutorials (most popular articles):
- How to create a shopping cart UI using CSS & JavaScript
- Create a product page with interactive colors in HTML, CSS3 & jQuery
- Bootstrap 5: What’s new about it
- How to control gradient fills in Adobe Illustrator
- How to sue steps () in CSS animations
There are tutorials for:
- Adobe Illustrator (28 articles)
- Adobe Photoshop (13 articles)
- Bootstrap (24 articles)
- CSS3 (47 articles)
- HTML (19 articles)
- jQuery (24 articles)
- Sketch App (5 articles)
- SVG (4 articles)
The Blog (latest):
- Examples of high-converting Christmas email newsletters
- Guide to New Year email newsletters with examples
- Blocksy review
- When should you rethink using time-sensitive images on your website?
- High-converting re-engagement email examples and best practices
Inspiration *my favorite section (most popular articles):
- Beautiful examples fo sliders in website design
- Best examples of web application interface designs
- Beautiful examples of login forms for websites and apps
- Examples of CSS website designs
- 33 examples of login form designs
I walk you through many of the examples inside the “inspiration” section in my video review.
My Final Review
I’m very satisfied with the Designmodo apps. These apps are fast, reliable, easy to use, customizable, with plenty of settings and a library of design assets you can use instantly.
You can create beautiful, responsive, animated, and professionally-looking email newsletters, static web pages, and landing pages. You can use them for you or clients.
There are documents to help you get started, manuals, a live chat support, FAQ pages, and so much more.
The blog is huge with countless resources for inspiration, to learn how to use the products, and learn new things.
These are the topics covered: email marketing, website design, responsive design, app design, coding, web design and apps, WordPress.
You can find resources: fonts, graphics, icons, scripts, templates, tools.
You can find examples: apps, icons, interviews, websites.
And there are video tutorials for everything you need.
Now let’s discuss the apps separately:
From the very first moment I used the postcards app, I knew that this was something special.
Why?
I’ve used hundreds of similar apps, yes hundreds. So, I can easily tell when an app is professional or not so professional.
The postcards app is one of the most dynamic apps I’ve tested.
For me what matters most is the result.
And the email newsletters you can create with postcards will leave your subscribers ultra-satisfied, to say the least.
It’s no surprise that the app is being used by such big names in so many industries.
Simply put, you can’t create such beautiful emails without knowing how to code.
And who has time for coding when producing emails, right?
With the slides app, you can create beautiful, professional, fast-loading, and animated static web pages in minutes, if not seconds (when you become familiar with it).
This app is not meant for people without any coding experience. If you are advanced, you’ll have no problem at all.
The thing is to successfully use the zip archive, edit it if needed, and upload it to your web server.
I suggest you get some inspiration from the numerous examples they offer before you dive in. There are many settings regarding the animation and other effects.
And also, don’t hesitate to contact their support team. They monitor 24/7.
I’ve seen pages created with the slides app all over the web, for years now.
The startup app is a tool for creating landing pages.
All the necessary design elements and blocks exist. Menu, header, navigation, blog, features, forms, applications, showcases, eCommerce, calls to action, testimonials, pricing tables, teams, contact forms, footer.
Again, you may need some practice before you successfully use the exported files to upload them to your websites.
Only if you’re using a high-class website theme or you have an in-house web developing team, or you know how to code yourself, you can have more bells and whistles, like accordions, audio modules, bar counters, blurbs, counters, countdown timers, dividers, sliders, toggles, and other stuff.
But the app can help you save precious time and the result is absolutely professional. Not many apps can give you such great results.
One of the most reliable and easy to use landing page builders I used.
Notice: The apps are newbie-friendly, but at some point, you will need a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. To export the files, integrate with your email service provider, build the pages on your website by embedding the code, etc.
They clearly state that.
I find the pricing plans extremely affordable but I would expect the business license without exporting limits.
The agency license is a must if you want to use the apps for clients and the price difference from the business option is minimal.
We should not forget that they wholeheartedly give everyone the chance to test their apps for free and when you do that, you’ll get to see what’s included in the premium versions as well, this is huge.
It’s a risk-free investment. Only when you’re sure, you can move on to become a premium user.
Final Words
I absolutely enjoyed working with these apps. I have used hundreds of online apps so far, and DesignModo is a company that I recommend, hands down.
Professionalism, countless resources, guides, tutorials, support.
I’ve come across dozens of websites that use these apps and I receive email newsletters from industry-leading organizations that use DesignModo.
This is a team dedicated to improving its product line, optimizing it, and adding features to it in the near future.
I look forward to these updates.
They are also open to your feedback.
Test it and I think…you’ll love it.
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Hi, I'm Tasos, founder of the agency WebMarketSupport and creator of the "7 IDEALS" methodology.
I have a Business Organisation & Administration degree (University of Macedonia Hellas) and I have been a traditional entrepreneur since 1992. I expanded my business online in late 2014 and from that time, I've helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services as a marketing consultant.
I worked with networks, marketplaces, business owners, communities, and local stores.
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That’s it, another review has finished, here on Web Market Support. I am waiting for your comments and thoughts. Till next time.
Tasos Perte Tzortzis
Business Organisation & Administration, Marketing Consultant, Creator of the "7 Ideals" Methodology
Although doing traditional business offline since 1992, I fell in love with online marketing in late 2014 and have helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services. Founder of WebMarketSupport, Muvimag, Summer Dream.
Reading, arts, science, chess, coffee, tea, swimming, Audi, and family comes first.
Some of the links on this page are “sponsored”. For more information, I refer you to the Disclaimer page.
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