You know what's funny? Often the highest converting and best user experience emails are... just text and links.
Yep, all the branded shenanigans and responsive mumbojumbo doesn't necessarily beat just sending an email in its native form.
As it turns out, most of the logos and branding are self serving and nobody cares. Many of the most profitable email lists on the internet have no style at all, are long form text, have plain blue links, and they make millions of dollars in sales.
This is a cool project, but don't forget to treat email in its native form.