New to Email Design? 6 Must-Know Tips for Graphic Designers
So, you’re new to designing for email. Grab some Kleenex, and button up because (some) email platforms perform like it’s the Dark Ages. Before we crush all your dreams, you can still design something different and fresh. But it’s essential for you to keep these 6 things in mind as you do.
1. Understand limitations first
Rule of thumb: don’t work in silos. Talk to your development team. Understand what limitations the email platform will put on you. How does this platform treat buttons? Colours? What does dark mode do to buttons or colours?
Talk to your Marketing Strategists to understand if Outlook is a concern or not—Outlook can be a huge pain, but if the majority of your audience is viewing your email in Gmail, you may not have to cater to it. You’ll have more flexibility if you’re not focused on Outlook, but it’s doable either way.
2. Your hero block is to your email what Boardwalk is to the MonopolyTM Board
The first content block in your email (hero block) needs to house your one key takeaway. Everyone—you, the copywriters, the strategists, the developers—need to utilize the prime real estate like your lives depend on it.
Your key message, main visual (assuming they haven’t turned off images in email settings… having fun yet?), and the most important call to action need to be front and centre. If they’re not, you’re wasting good real estate. When recipients open your email, your hero block is what will determine if they archive or keep scrolling.
3. Think mobile first
Desktop needs to come second. Your best bet is designing both mobile and desktop in tandem. Designing an entire email solely in desktop is certified self-sabotage. Don’t lose touch with how desktop translates into mobile—that’s where a lot of your audience will be viewing your email communications.
4. A contrast-checker is your friend
Wait… what? Sometimes, brands are designed without contrast considerations. Let’s say you’re designing an email for a B2B company with a brand palette chockful of fluorescent colours. Your target audience? People over 45 years of age, primarily using Outlook for email communications. Elements of your email like buttons and coloured headers will need to be tested with a contrast checker tool so that they won’t get lost for recipients. Use a tool like WebAIM to ensure that elements are visible against the background for everyone. Don’t let people miss those CTAs!
5. The use of Gestalt principles is a key ingredient
The Gestalt principles—the laws of human perception— are beginner design knowledge, but essential to keep in mind when designing emails. These principles guide how your recipients will see patterns and structure in design. Don’t ignore them!
- Similarity: Objects that look similar are perceived as related. If you have 2 spots in your email where you’re sharing a helpful tip, use a similar design to create that connection.
- Continuity: Our eyes follow lines and curves, linking elements smoothly. Even with different content blocks throughout your email, the whole thing should flow seamlessly.
- Closure: Our brains naturally fill in gaps so that we see complete figures or patterns. Use this to your advantage—sometimes less is more.
- Proximity: Things close together seem grouped. Maintain design proximity for content in your email that should be grouped.
- Figure-ground: We automatically separate objects from their background to make sense of what we’re seeing. Backgrounds can be used to help elements stand out.
6. Padding works best in multiples of 4
Unsure of how much breathing room to put between elements? As a rule of thumb, use multiples of 4 px for UI design. Multiples of 8 can work too, but 4’s are your safest bet.
Why? Using multiples of 4 for setting coordinates or padding between elements will not only help designing be more straightforward, but it’ll also help your email look more polished. Emails are small and often viewed on mobile, but skip counting your 4’s while you design will make for a consistent and harmonious visual feel.
Here’s the long and the short of it: email design is full of possibilities, but without a game plan, things can get chaotic fast. These 6 tips will help you colour within the lines, without caging your emails in bland prison.
Want to level up your email marketing and take your design to the next level? Get in touch with our team today.
MONOPOLY is a trademark of Hasbro, INC