Configuration > Brand Settings > Content Defaults
Content Defaults let you define the default styling for content blocks in the email and landing page editors. When a user drags a new block into a design, a text block, a button, an image, it arrives pre-styled to match your brand instead of using generic defaults. This reduces repetitive manual styling and ensures brand consistency across your team's work.
Overview
Content Defaults use a two-layer configuration model:
- Global Design Tokens set foundational brand values — fonts, colors, content width, and padding — that automatically cascade into every content block type.
- Per-Block Overrides let you fine-tune specific properties on individual block types (Text, Button, Image, Divider, Menu, Form) without affecting the rest.
Setting Global Design Tokens allows you to make impactful changes on the most high-touch settings without needing to adjust every last setting. Per-Block Overrides allows you the fine-tune control over properties for the most popular content blocks.
Content Defaults apply to new designs and new content blocks dropped into the editor. Existing designs and previously placed blocks are not retroactively changed.
Navigating to Content Defaults
Once logged into Ascent360, navigate to Configuration in the left navigation panel, then select Brand Settings. The Brand Settings page contains three tabs:
- Colors & Fonts > where you manage your brand's font selections and color palette
- Content Defaults > where you configure default styling for content blocks
- AI Training Hub > where you provide brand context for AI-generated content
Select the Content Defaults tab to access the configuration interface.
Note: Content Defaults requires the ESPAdmin role. If you do not have this role, you will see the current configuration in read-only mode but will not be able to make changes. Contact your administrator to request access.
Enabling Content Defaults
Content Defaults are controlled by a master toggle on the page. When Content Defaults are turned off, the email and landing page editors use the standard defaults provided by the editor.
To enable Content Defaults, switch the toggle to On. A brief animation will highlight the Global Design Tokens section to indicate where to start. Once enabled, any saved configuration will take effect the next time a user opens the email or landing page editor and begins a new design.
To disable Content Defaults, switch the toggle to Off. This immediately stops your custom defaults from being applied to new designs. Your configuration is preserved — if you re-enable Content Defaults later, your previous settings will still be there.
The Configuration Interface
The Content Defaults page is divided into two panels:
Configuration Panel (right) — Contains the Global Design Tokens section at the top, followed by collapsible cards for each content block type.
Live Preview Panel (left) — Displays a static mock email layout showing one instance of each content block type. The preview updates in real time as you change settings, so you can see the effect of your configuration before saving.
When you expand a content block card in the configuration panel, the corresponding block in the preview is highlighted with a subtle border to draw your attention to the relevant section.
Saving Your Configuration
Select the Save button in the toolbar to persist your configuration. Once saved, your defaults will apply the next time any user on your account creates a new email or landing page design.
The toolbar also provides Undo and Redo controls. You can undo up to 50 recent changes using Ctrl+Z (undo) and Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z (redo).
How Content Defaults Apply
Content Defaults affect new designs in two ways:
- Design-level settings — Global Tokens such as background color, content area background, content width, default font, and link color are applied to the design's page-level settings when a new email or landing page is created.
- Block-level defaults — When a user drags a new content block (text, button, image, divider, menu, or form) into the editor, the block arrives with the styling defined in your Content Defaults configuration.
Content Defaults do not alter existing designs or previously placed blocks. If a user has already created a design before Content Defaults were configured (or updated), that design retains its original styling.
Relationship to Colors & Fonts
The Colors & Fonts tab and the Content Defaults tab work together. Brand colors defined in Colors & Fonts appear as quick-select swatches in the Content Defaults color pickers, making it easy to use your established brand palette when configuring defaults. Custom fonts added in Colors & Fonts are also available in the Content Defaults font pickers.
If your Colors & Fonts tab is configured to use preferred fonts mode, the Content Defaults font pickers will only show your preferred and custom fonts. In all fonts mode, the full font library is available.
Next Steps
Proceed to the next article to learn about configuring Global Design Tokens, or jump ahead to configuring individual content block defaults if you already have your brand foundations in place.
