#157. Design Like a Pro: Top Email Design Trends Decoded | Podcast

Vira: 0:41

Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to Flowium Podcast. I’m your host, Vira Sadlak, and today I’m joined by a very special guest, Kristen Musloe. Kristen is actually our designer. She works here at Flowium, and I specifically invited her to discuss some exciting design trends with us, specifically email marketing design trends. So say hi, Kristen.

Kristen: 1:05

Hi. Thank you so much, Vira. I’m excited to be here and discuss some industry trends right now.

Vira: 1:11

Oh, yeah, definitely. It’s going to be a fun one. But before we go there, Kristen, I have this little, like, this or that Q&A questions just to get to know you better. Okay.

Kristen: 1:20

Okay, cool.

Vira: 1:21

Let’s do this. Photoshop or Illustrator?

Kristen: 1:24

Ooh, that’s a hard one. I think I’d have to go with Photoshop, though.

Vira: 1:29

Okay. Windows or Mac?

Kristen: 1:31

Oh, Mac all the way.

Vira: 1:33

Yay. Same here.

Kristen: 1:34

Okay.

Vira: 1:35

Shopping online or shopping offline?

Kristen: 1:38

Always online. Almost always online.

Vira: 1:41

Yeah, I don’t remember the last time I even ordered my grocery online, honestly. So it’s like I’m like 100% online. What was the last thing you purchased online?

Kristen: 1:50

Um, so it’s Prime Day is going on right now and, um, my cat knocked over my TV the other day, completely shattered it. So I was able to get a good deal. Um, and I Amazon Primed myself a new TV.

Vira: 2:02

Good for you and good for your cat, I guess.

Kristen: 2:04

Yeah, right?

Vira: 2:05

I don’t know. New TV in the family. That’s exciting. Okay. Uh, dark mode or light mode?

Kristen: 2:13

As a designer, I don’t want to say dark mode because that can make my life a little bit harder, but everything I have is set to dark mode. It’s just easier on the eyes.

Vira: 2:21

Fair enough. Fair enough.

Kristen: 2:22

Okay.

Vira: 2:23

If there was a song playing every time you entered the room, what would it be?

Kristen: 2:28

Oh, my goodness. That is so hard. This is so hard. I am going off of my Spotify top 100, and the song that makes it on every single year is Drop It Like It’s Hot by Snoop Dogg. So I would go with that, I think. Classic.

Vira: 2:46

Classic. Amazing. That’s a good one. I wish that the music was playing right now as we were speaking.

Kristen: 2:53

You decide.

Vira: 2:54

Yeah. Cool. Okay, so let’s talk about juicy stuff. Let’s talk about all of the design trends and stuff like that. Guys, those of you who’ve been with us for a while, you know that normally we record it as audio only, but since it’s a very visual topic, we decided to record it as audio plus video. So we will be posting our video on our YouTube channel. And also all of the references that we will be discussing in this blog, or sorry, in this podcast, you will be able to find in our blog. So we’ll try to explain what we are seeing on our screens as close as possible, but you will still be able to go ahead and check everything out yourself. Okay, guys. So one of the biggest trends that we are seeing across the industry is the AMP in the emails. AMP for emails is probably one of the hottest trends these days. To explain it in simple terms, it’s basically something interactive in your inbox, so directly in your email. Basically, you’ve probably seen this. Some brands have this like little games in the emails. Some brands are doing the interactive abandonment carts. Some brands include the NPS surveys. So basically AMP is the framework that allows you to include that interactive content into the emails. Yes, it requires a bit of coding. It requires a bit of a, like a lot of work on your design team’s end, but it’s so worth it. So definitely try using one of those. AMP emails. So here are some good examples. One of the brands that I follow, they actually do this NPS survey. And those of you who are watching us on YouTube right now, you should be able to see this little, like, an NPS survey screen where the customer can basically pick whether or not they like the brand. And they will be able to say whether or not they are satisfied with the company and with the brand. And it’s really cool. You can do it with a Typeform as well. But in that case, case you’re sending your traffic out of the email. So probably the conversion for that survey will be much, much lower. The really fun way to use this AMP emails is games or are games, I guess. I really love this. I think it was from Sephora actually, scratch and win. Oh no, it was from Gwynnie Bee. So it was like scratch and win. So basically you were able to like scratch one of the 3 coins that they had on the hero image of the email and under those like coins, there was like a discount code. So you could use like different discount codes depending on how lucky you are, I guess. Some of the brands are also doing this like Wheel of Fortune, or how do you call it? I don’t know. It’s like, that’s how we called it in Ukraine anyways. So you have to like spin the wheel and you’ll be able to win the offer or like to win some sort of like a discount code or like a freebie or something like that. So these are like the fun ways to use the AMP emails. The cart recovery is a big one as well. So basically, some brands are using this AMP for abandonment cart emails. So instead of sending your traffic directly to the abandonment cart page, you can actually recover their purchase directly in the email. So directly in the email, they will be able to pick the product. If the product has variations, they will be able to pick the color. They will be able to, I don’t know, add change quantity and stuff like that. To pay though, they will still have to go to your website, but it eliminates that extra step. So everything can be done in one space. So yeah, it’s a very, very powerful tool. Definitely use it, especially if you have this technology. There are a ton of apps that can help you to develop this AMP emails. And yeah, there’s a ton of information on our blog and we will actually be sharing the link to the blog blog about AMP emails that we have on our Flowium blog. So yeah, that was trend number 1. Kristin, trend number 2. Tell us about it.

Kristen: 7:18

So for trend number 2, it’s actually my personal favorite way to spruce up emails, and that’s animated GIFs. Email marketers are increasingly turning to animated GIFs in email to provide that extra visual interest in their messaging. And actually, according to the 2020 State of Email data, 51.28% of marketers said they’re using animated GIFs at least sometimes in their email marketing. So I don’t know what that other almost 50% of people are doing, but they’re definitely missing out. But more importantly, GIFs can be animated and you can take videos from your marketing materials and turn them into GIFs to use in your emails, which is really cool. Again, one of my favorite things to do. So similar to how an old-fashioned flipbook works, GIFs rapidly display a series of images to produce the illusion of motion. So it’s not a video, but it looks like it is. And then in the internet’s early years, GIFs and things like the marquee and blink tags were the primary method of adding movement to a web page. So I don’t know about you, but I remember coding my MySpace back in the day, like way back in the day.

Vira: 8:22

Wow.

Kristen: 8:23

With the blink tags and things like that. Um, so a lot has changed since then and since the flipbooks from the 1990s. So animated GIFs are enjoying a renaissance both, um, on the web and within email marketing. Yeah. So while there’s still some debate as to how you actually pronounce GIF, the GIF versus GIF. Yeah.

Vira: 8:43

I’m a, I’m a GIF team, but I know like a lot of people who say GIF and I’m always like confused.

Kristen: 8:49

I know. I’m always like insecure. I’m like, am I wrong? But I’m also team, um, GIF.

Vira: 8:53

GIF.

Kristen: 8:53

So maybe in the comments you guys can let us know how you pronounce it. But no matter how you pronounce it, you can— most people will agree that it’s just an excellent marketing tool all around.

Vira: 9:04

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 9:05

So what are the benefits of an animated GIF within email? So adding the animation in email with a GIF is just a great way to grab your subscribers’ attention, point them towards the action you want them to take, or to keep them scrolling to make sure they get through your whole message. So we have a few great examples here. The first example is ILIA Beauty, and this is what I was talking about where you can turn a video into a GIF. So for those out there who can’t see what we’re seeing right now, this is a beauty brand, and in their hero image, they actually have— they’re showing how your product or service works, and they have real people using the product, which is so nice, so eye-catching.

Vira: 9:47

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 9:48

It answers any questions and it’s just really good for subscribers to see it in action.

Vira: 9:53

Yeah. Especially if the product has like some specific way to like use it. For example, like I had no idea how to properly apply that like makeup, you know, and they, in like that short 3-second video, they actually show you like where to put it, how to put it, how to blend it. So cool. I love when they are doing that. Yeah, it’s very helpful.

Kristen: 10:13

Yeah, no, this is such a nice clean email. I love it.

Vira: 10:16

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 10:18

And then for the next example, this is one of my favorite companies to get an email from. Every time I see them pop up in my inbox, I get excited to see what they came up with, which I mean is an awesome way to make someone feel. It’s Magic Spoon. So this is a really good example of using the GIFs in the body instead of using the GIF in the hero. So using it in the body of your email like this is going to keep subscribers scrolling. It’s going to keep them engaged. So then you’ll be able to give them your entire message. So here you can see they’re showing their awesome packaging, which is also another plus, and their different flavors, and it’s keeping you really engaged. So this is just amazing use of color and using a GIF in the body of the email.

Vira: 11:02

Yeah. And I think that’s awesome that they used it here because they pretty much like showed their entire selection of products and they have like quite a few of those products, but they were able to show it in one image. So instead of making like this super long email that possibly might get clipped. They basically fit everything into that, like one image. I think it’s super cool.

Kristen: 11:23

Yeah, no, that’s a really good point when you mentioned clipping too. This is a great way to kind of condense what you want to into a shorter version. Love that email. Um, and then the next example is from Headspace, which I have to just say, I love this color scheme so much. They’re using like a muted blue-gray, a darker gray, brighter yellow, and a coral color. Um, so if a picture is worth a thousand words, then an animated picture is probably worth even more. Um, and using an animated GIF like this to illustrate it, to illustrate a complex idea or show your subscribers things that are, um, it makes it easier and it makes it, shows them that it’s easier than they think. Um, this is just a really eye-catching one to use in the hero and it’s really unique. I don’t see a lot like this. So this is a good example.

Vira: 12:11

Yeah. I love how they try to explain like difficult concepts in this, like, in this, like, images. For those of you who are not watching us but listening to us, basically, the Headspace is the app for meditation and stuff. And they show this guy, this little dude who’s sitting and meditating, and around him is this thunderstorm is happening, yet he’s very chill and composed and stuff like that. And I just love how, just like you said, Kristin, the picture can say 1,000 words. Yeah, it’s such a beautiful little concept here.

Kristen: 12:47

Yeah, definitely.

Vira: 12:50

That’s a really good one. Well, thank you so much. Yeah. And that animation, it just adds that little aspect of interactive emails almost into your emails as well. For those of you who don’t want to or can’t use the AMP emails for now, this is an excellent way to make your emails a bit more dynamic, I’d say. Yeah. Cool. Okay, the next trend, it’s a big one. You may love it, you may hate it, but designs optimized for black mode is definitely a big thing. Dark mode has taken the world of technology by storm. And I actually read the stats and it seems it sounds like incredibly high, but did you know that actually almost 82% of of users or people use dark mode on their phones. 82%.

Kristen: 13:42

Crazy.

Vira: 13:44

The number sounds crazy, but when I think about it, I use dark mode. My husband uses dark mode. You use dark mode. All of my friends use dark mode. So yeah. And actually, I also read that almost like 65% of people, they kind of expect websites and emails to have a dark mode, obviously, because that’s what they’re using in their day-to-day. Why do people love dark mode so much? like you said, Kristin, it’s probably because it’s easy on eyes. I heard that it saves battery life. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s the reason why I switched to dark mode at some point of my life. And also, I just like the aesthetic of it. It just looks better for some reason.

Kristen: 14:27

I don’t know.

Vira: 14:28

Yeah, it’s just like, I love it. I use it on all of my devices. However, there is still a lot of confusion on how to optimize for dark mode and how to create those emails for dark mode, it can be a bit challenging. So here are some brief recommendations from Flowium. That’s what our designers have been doing. Kristin, you’ll probably have more recommendations because that’s what you’re doing on a daily basis. But yeah, we definitely do recommend optimizing for dark mode. It’s not an if question. You do have to do it these days. And once you do that, try using transparent PNGs. That’s very important. Maybe you can even add a stroke border or background to dark logos if your logo is like in blackish or like darker color so your logo does not like disappear, you know, on the email. Then you can also reduce the size of your PNG photos. PNGs, they are actually great for solid things like icons, text, shapes, and stuff like that. But when you are saving a photo as a PNG, it can be It can get very heavy, very big. So be careful with that so your email does not get clipped. Also very important is to choose the right colors. If you’re using a background color, make sure to use the color that is bright enough or dark enough to appear on a dark background. So bright colors all the way. And of course, testing. Testing is big. We normally test our emails with different tools. There are platforms like Litmus where you Or like email on acid where you can see how your email will look on like different devices and light and dark modes and stuff like that. So yeah, so that’s basically, that’s a very big trend these days. And here are 2 great examples of how you can use dark mode. The first example is when they made it as an image without the color change. And example number 2 is where, is where they use the color invert logic. So basically they change changed the color of the background, but also the color of the fonts were changed and the color of the CTAs were changed and stuff like that. So basically like a color invert happened here. Kristen, do you have anything to add here? What have been like the biggest challenges for you guys, like creating designs for black mode?

Kristen: 17:07

Yeah, no, I mean, the worst feeling is whenever you create a beautiful email and then you send it on to email on Asset or another testing service and you see like, that’s not what I designed, that looks so funky.

Vira: 17:17

Yes.

Kristen: 17:17

So it’s really important to always keep that top of mind when you’re designing because like you mentioned, you have to, like it’s just not a choice at this point. I know I use the outline a lot, adding a stroke onto my elements. Something else that I do sometimes is I’ll add, like I had this section the other day of About Me is what it said. And I added like a white swash behind it. So whenever it’s normal mode, you didn’t see it, but then on dark mode, there was kind of a graphic behind it that made the font pop. So there’s little things like that you can do, um, to kind of cheat around it. But yeah, like you mentioned, this is just something that especially nowadays you just have to do. Um, but it’s kind of fun. It’s kind of like a little puzzle for designers.

Vira: 17:59

A little puzzle for designers. I love how you look at things. Uh, you guys, we do have this like a big article on our website. Um, that’s like literally called How to Optimize for Dark Mode. And yeah, we’ll link all of the resources that we mentioned in this podcast. We’ll link them in the description box so you can just scroll in and enjoy them. Okay, cool. Kristen, tell us the next big thing in the email marketing design.

Kristen: 18:56

So the next trend that we’re going to cover is negative space, which is also known as white space to some people. And using negative space helps give breathing room for design elements, and it’s just another big trend right now with a lot of brands. So it helps subscribers and your customer base quickly digest a message to complete the desired action. It doesn’t give them too much information. It gives them exactly what you want to give them as quickly as possible. So an example is like if you want them to shop the annual sale, or if there’s a sale going on for a limited amount of time, it’s a good way to get them that information as quickly as possible. Um, so it’s what negative space or white space is. It’s the area of the layout that is left empty. Simple enough. So it may not only be around the objects, but also inside the objects or between them, just ways to space them out. It’s kind of just a breathing room for all the objects on the page or on the screen. Um, and then specifically in email design, negative space is a really big factor for high usability and navigability.

Vira: 19:59

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 20:00

for the interface. And it’s important, especially in email marketing, like I said, just to give the user exactly what they want as quickly as possible. So just to kind of give you a visual here, I guess a visual, imagine yourself coming into a room. It’s fully packed with various staff members. There are shelves, boxes, bags, piles of books, just a cluttered desk. So will you be able to concentrate in those conditions, or do you really need all of that right now? And more importantly, how long will it take to actually get what you need done?

Vira: 20:34

Done.

Kristen: 20:34

So that’s pretty much the same as what users feel opening the page or screen when there’s not enough negative space. It can quickly become overwhelming and you might lose a customer or they might just click out of your email because it’s just too much. And I know I’ve definitely done that before. And as a designer, it is hard to use negative space because we want to design and we want to add all these elements. I know that’s probably my biggest challenge. Yeah. Is always keeping that in my mind. Like, I need breathing room here. It doesn’t have to be all at once in your face. So that’s definitely my biggest challenge, but it’s a huge trend right now. So it’s really important to kind of keep that, again, top of mind presence. Yeah. No surprise, Apple has been nailing negative spaces in their emails and their marketing consistently pretty much forever. But all of their communication rides on simple fonts. eye-capturing images and very clean designs, which people really like right now. So we have an email up right now that is no exception. It’s an email for their AirPods Pro. You can see how the image of the AirPods stand out, making the product seem aspirational and really fancy.

Vira: 21:42

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 21:42

And the negative space underneath has been used smartly too, because it creates a contrast and packs in the message all above the fold. So you can see it all right where you want it. And it gives a great, clear visual hierarchy and it just tells the users what they need to focus on. So they don’t have to think about it. It’s just right there and their brain’s just going to understand.

Vira: 22:03

Yeah. Such a cool example.

Kristen: 22:04

Yeah.

Vira: 22:04

I think every time I think of the, this like minimalistic clean design, Apple is obviously the first example that comes to mind. They are nailing this trend totally. Yeah.

Kristen: 22:15

Definitely. And then we have another great example from a brand called Moment. So you can see here, they’re also providing ample negative space to give breathing room for these really cool design elements. They kind of have a little wavy font at the top, a really cool kind of hero image. It almost looks like it’s cut out of the background. It’s really interesting. And again, this just really helps your customer base to quickly digest the message. So in this one, it is shopping the annual holiday sale. I also love the color scheme here too.

Vira: 22:46

Yeah. It’s one of my favorites. Very beautiful. Very beautiful. I love this trend. And that’s like the thing in the industry right now. Tell me if you agree or not, but I’m seeing like 2 kinds of like big trends. One is this like minimalistic, clean group of emails, you know, with like a lot of like negative spaces, minimum of text, like big images and stuff like that. But I also do see like this colorful, bright emails with like funky typography and stuff like that. It’s almost like they’re like 2 big trends at the same time that are exactly like contrasting each other. So yeah.

Kristen: 23:27

No, I totally agree. I have a few clients right now. One really gravitates towards the in-your-face bright colors, and that is my favorite one to design for. But then the other ones have this nice clean imagery, and I really just think it depends on who your target audience is and who your consumers are. But both are great. But yeah, I totally agree. like split completely.

Vira: 23:49

Cool. Yeah. And I feel like the next trend that I will be talking about, it’s very connected to what you just covered, floating product blocks. This is like a big trend that I’m seeing in the industry as well. And giving that on average only like 20, like 30% of the emails get even open, let alone read. Images, they carry that very important role of like communicating the message right away and like capturing the attention and basically explaining what the product is all about in this one quick short image. So in order to make these images even more effective, designers, they started experimenting a lot with product blocks. And this style of product blocks that are floating in the midair is very popular these days. This style is actually a good way to make sure that the product block is the most important piece of the content. So basically all of the focus goes to the product block directly. This type of content block is really good for featured emails or featured product campaigns and stuff like that. And even these products are, even if it’s like impossible to make them actually levitate, a lot of designers and a lot of brands are actually using the 3D rendering. But still, this product blocks, they look very realistic. For example, this is actually one of our brands that we worked with, Better Brand. I really love how they added this image of the bagel. Bagel is their hero product, and they make it look like it’s levitating in the air. But this It’s just fun. It’s just like fun looking. You can see what the product is about right away. If you scroll down, you can obviously have like the product description, like a short copy and stuff like that. But I feel like this like product that almost like floating is in the air, it’s like the most important piece of the information. Actually, I’m just like getting hungry looking at this. And I think—

Kristen: 26:05

I was going to say that too.

Vira: 26:07

Yeah, it looks so good. I think our designers actually did a really good job with this one. So yeah, a better brand, a better brand bagels. They’re so good. Try them. They are amazing. We are not affiliated with them or anything, but we might be biased since they are our client. Okay, cool. So that’s the first example. And the second example is for watch brand. And they actually did a really good job, like showcasing different kinds of, different kinds of products. But the fact that instead of like having like a plain product block that you can pull from Shopify, they made it look like the product is like floating in the air. It’s just like looks funkier and it brings your attention directly to the product. It’s, I think it’s a really good way for those very like visual brands to represent themselves. So yeah, this is like a little trend and I feel like this floating product blocks are really connected with that like negative space trend that you just discussed, but I think it’s a really good way to bring customers’ attention directly to the product.

Kristen: 27:18

Yeah, no, I totally agree. I love both these hero images. It really gives like a personality to the product. Like I almost feel like those watches are dancing and like the bagel is jumping, you know, like it really, it’s eye-catching. And like you said, even if the customer’s not getting to the block of text, you know exactly what this company does and what they’re selling. So I agree, this is just awesome.

Vira: 28:28

Cool. Okay, the next one, I’m kind of excited. I know what you will be talking about, so I’m really excited about this one because this is like definitely one of my favorite trends that we will be covering today.

Kristen: 28:40

Yes, no, I totally agree. Um, so this is nostalgic designs and bold typography. So retro design is making a comeback and it’s actually one of the top email design trends of 2023. And this wave of retro designs includes elements from Art Deco, the ’90s, and even though it pains me to say this, 2000s nostalgia. Because yes, people, we have 2000s nostalgia now. It’s a thing. But a simple explanation as for why these trends keep coming back, even the ones that we wish might not, is just simply nostalgia. Um, people really crave to relive the simpler times when they didn’t know what the future would hold and their worries seemed small. And as marketers and designers, we have the power to use design to evoke that same feeling of nostalgia. And it can create warmth and calm and hopefulness. And I just think that’s really cool that we kind of have the power to make people feel so good in that way.

Vira: 29:32

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 29:33

Um, just by creating beautiful, eye-catching emails and copy. So what does this mean for us as email marketers? For one, really simply put, making your readers happy is always a plus. So when your readers connect with you, they’re more interested in your content and they’ll continue to read and look forward to what you’re sending next. Kind of like how I mentioned with Magic Spoon, I look forward to their emails and getting ones from brands like that. So they’re also more likely to take action on what you’re asking from them whenever they feel that way about your emails. So even if it doesn’t get that far and they’re not making a purchase or something like that, you’re still guaranteed to make a lasting impression because of how you made them feel. Like, they might not exactly remember what your email looks like or what you’re selling, but they’re gonna remember the feeling. And that’s so important. And that’s kind of like one of the goals as an email marketer is getting to that point.

Vira: 30:23

Yeah.

Kristen: 30:24

So if you have fond memories of the ’80s and ’90s, you’re definitely not alone. Nostalgia is taking the design world by storm, influencing everything from product design to website graphics. Really, if you do go to the mall still and go into stores in person, you’ll see it everywhere. It’s really cool and kind of trippy at the same time.

Vira: 30:44

That’s super weird.

Kristen: 30:45

I think—

Vira: 30:46

what was the brand? Well, H&M has a lot of stuff from 2000s. And I mean, it’s so weird seeing these 12-year-olds or 13-year-olds wearing the stuff that you wore to high school. And it’s just like, look at how cool this is.

Kristen: 31:02

It’s like, I knew that was cool 15 years ago, right? Yeah.

Vira: 31:07

Yeah.

Kristen: 31:08

Um, but this is really just all about blending the past and the present to create something new and unique. So this trend is characterized by the use of vintage-inspired elements like typography. Um, you can use images or patterns, but add like a modern twist to it. So the result of doing this, it is a design that feels familiar, but also fresh, which is kind of a hard thing to achieve. So nostalgia makes that possible.

Vira: 31:35

Yeah, yeah.

Kristen: 31:36

And then we have a couple great examples here. So just in general, color is going to play a role in how people feel, react, and make decisions about the brand and your products. So in this case, color is the easiest way to communicate and illustrate an era to evoke that nostalgia. So for example, if you think of the ’80s, other than leg warmers and leotards, you might think of bright pinks or blues or neon greens I know I definitely do whenever I think of the ’80s or like when I think of the’90s, I’ll think of that Lisa Frank-ish bright rainbow colors with sparkles. So there’s definitely a way to use color to bring your subscribers to a moment in time, which is really cool. So fonts is also really important and really helps to bring that nostalgia aspect. It’s just as important as color. So we have some really great examples here.

Vira: 32:29

Yeah, let’s, let’s review them.

Kristen: 32:31

So this first one, you can see how they use, um, it’s from RTRO, and they have what looks like a handwritten font. So that’s really personable. So that makes you feel like it’s written just to you for your inbox. And then underneath that personal handwritten font, they have kind of like a typewriter-esque font, which is a really cool contrast, those 2 kinds of fonts together. And it kind of brings you back to like an earlier time, even though this is a brand new email, it gives you that feeling of like, I don’t know, maybe the ’80s or’90s. And then they also use great colors in here as well. So they’re really just kind of nailing the nostalgia on this one all around.

Vira: 33:08

Yeah, I love that they are using this like instant photos filter or how you call it. It has that like looks from the ’90s or ’80s that from this like cameras that we were taking the instant picture with. And by the way, this trend is back as well. So, I mean, we knew a thing or two about the trends back then. So yeah, it just like looks good. It almost reminds me of this, like even like the first fonts that we were using for like computers back in the day. It’s just like had that very like distinct like’90s vibe. And I think it looks great and it works really well with the topic of what, with the theme of what they are selling, I guess, with the products that they are selling. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 33:52

And then our next example, it, this is just, I love, like, the colors of this make me feel good, which is exactly what we were just talking about. Um, this is a really fun way to show the colors and typography working together. So you can see there’s kind of those bright colors. Um, they also, let me see here, they have some like outlines that look like they’re hand drawn on there, but they’re obviously not.

Vira: 34:16

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 34:17

This is just another great example of feeling nostalgic. This, I would say, would be like, I don’t even know, maybe early 2000s.

Vira: 34:24

Yeah.

Kristen: 34:25

Yeah, I love this one so much. I love the little sparkle graphics on there. I just think this is a great example of how to make something new feel familiar and fresh, but also new. This is a great way to do that.

Vira: 34:36

Totally.

Kristen: 34:38

And then our last example here, Old Pal. I love the color blue they used on this, and I was looking at it, they also utilized the typewriter font. font. And then up in the hero where it says Old Pal, which is the brand’s name, instead of doing a stark white on blue background, they have almost an off-white, giving it like that vintagey feel.

Vira: 34:59

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 35:00

I thought that was like a great decision on their part. But yeah, this reminds me, and this is more of like a’90s, I would say, vibe to it. But I just, I love how they executed it here. And then the call to action is bright and eye-catching, which is always important.

Vira: 35:17

Yeah, I like that, like, bold fonts and this font that looks almost like a typewriter font. I think it’s very appropriate here as well. Yeah, I’ve actually added, like, one more example here, Kristen. Honestly, I’m not a fan of this particular style, but I never was a fan of this style, even when it was a very, like, in, you know? It’s from the Red Bull. It’s like a holiday pack email where they are promoting their holiday pack. And they brought back this, like, font from, like,’90s, I’d say. But this is, like, one of the classic fonts that we are even seeing in some, like, super old book from, I don’t know, like, Middle Ages or whatever. I guess it just, like, works really well with the topic of the email. It’s very, like, hard to read, so you should be careful when using this font. When you’re using a very active, like, hero image font, I would probably recommend staying away from it in the actual body of the email, in that, like, main copy section. What do you think, Kristen? What are your thoughts on this one?

Kristen: 36:29

No, I totally agree. It’s great for a hero, but if you make it too small, it’s going to be too hard to read. But this font. It’s— I don’t know if this is specifically Old English, but that’s the font that is used a lot. And this is for Red Bull, and I feel like for their target audience, this is kind of perfect. I used to do a lot of designs for college-age kids and a lot of like fraternity and sorority designs, and I would use Old English for fraternities because that’s something they love. And yeah, it’s crazy, like you would never think that this font would come back, but it’s, it’s coming back and it’s popular right now. Yeah. Awesome.

Vira: 37:05

Okay, cool. The next trend, it’s an evergreen trend. I feel like it’s a big one. It’s a big topic in the industry, and we even have recorded a podcast about this. So we will be talking about the accessibility in emails. So if you want to learn more about this trend, go to episode number 88, Email Accessibility. In this podcast, we are talking about how to make your emails more accessible, what elements you need to change to make them more accessible and stuff like that. But one thing I didn’t realize, and these numbers, they sound crazy to me. I didn’t realize that 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women experience some form of colorblindness. Can you imagine? Like 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. I didn’t realize that the number was so hard, but it’s It just shows you how important it is to make sure that your emails are accessible because you want to be able to talk to as much people as possible. And also, I didn’t realize that there is like 5% to 10% of population in the world who are dyslexic. So you want to make sure that your emails are super easy to read, that you have proper fonts for them and stuff like that. Another crazy number is that 65% of people who experience hearing loss, they are actually under retirement age. So even if your brand is serving, I don’t know, like an audience of like 30-year-olds, millennials who are into makeup or something, it’s still— be sure that your emails are still like accessible for them because it’s not only for like people who are around retirement age. Apparently it’s like a bigger issue. So accessibility is one of founding pillars of using experience for email marketers. What can you do to make sure that your emails are accessible? Again, it’s a very big topic, and we have this whole big episode recorded about it. But there are, like, some things that you can do to make sure that your emails are easy to read for everyone. The first big thing is the contrast. So contrast is a very, very big thing, especially for people who have some sort of, some form of color blindness. So here’s a good example of contrasts that are bad for accessibility and some good examples of contrast. So make sure that your emails are very contrasted. They are very easy to read. Another important thing is to use a lot of white spaces, especially for people who have trouble with understanding the written information. So for dyslexic people, it’s very important to have this white spaces sometimes so they have, so they can consume the information in, like, small blocks. And even for people who don’t have that problem, you still want to give them information in, like, smaller blocks for them so it’s, like, easier to consume for them, right? I know that’s how I read anyways. And yeah, alt text is another big thing. So for people who have some visual impairment, they very often use this technology that basically reads an email for them. That’s why we always try to include the alt text. So even if they don’t see an image, say you’ve added an image of a cute puppy in your email, even if they can’t see the image of the cute puppy when they will be reading that email or when the technology will be reading an email for them, they will be able to hear that this is the image that you’ve used there. So that’s very important. There are a ton of different ways to improve email accessibility. Like using the right fonts. There are some fonts that are easier to read for people who are dyslexic, for example. Or using larger fonts is also a big one. So we don’t recommend going under font, like 14 points. It’s pretty small for emails. So we don’t recommend going under. But these are just some common practices that we recommend. Doing. And one thing I didn’t realize is that when a person is colorblind, it does not necessarily mean that you don’t see all colors. Sometimes it just means that you can see the red or green. And these are the most popular forms of colorblindness, which makes me think about all of this red, green, and white Christmas emails that we are designing, right? So when you are having some important information, or like some text, hero image text or stuff like that, try to stay away from using one of those colors like red or green or, yeah, mostly like red or green. Try to make sure that the contrast is good, the font is big, and the colors that you’re using are easy to read even if the person has some sort of color blindness. Yeah. So that’s a big trend. Yeah. Cool. What do you see in the industry, Kristen? And have you seen any, like, popular trends around this accessibility? Is there, like, anything that we internally doing to make emails more accessible?

Kristen: 42:47

I know here at Flowium, that’s a huge priority for us, is making sure the emails are accessible for everyone in the audience. So, I know for a designer, these things, they take minutes, maybe, like, to add alt text or just to kind of be mindful of the colors you use. And it really does make difference to whoever is getting the email. You don’t want to leave anybody out because, I mean, for one, you don’t want to lose a customer or a subscriber, but you also don’t want to make them feel different. You know, like you want them to be able to enjoy the email just as much as anyone else and to get the information that you want to. So it’s just, it’s something that for the design side, it doesn’t take that long on our end, but it can make a world of difference to somebody. So it’s definitely something that’s important and it probably always will be. So.

Vira: 43:29

Yeah. Yeah. That’s a big one. Cool. And I feel like our last Our last trend is getting more and more popular this year anyways. It’s about colors. So, Kristen, tell us, what is that last trend?

Kristen: 43:46

So the last trend is neon colors. So kind of opposite to what we were just saying. There’s a way to use them though and to still make it accessible. But emails are just getting brighter with neon colors and they’re definitely making a comeback. I’m all for it. I don’t know, how do you feel about the neon Are you here for it?

Vira: 44:05

Depends on the brand, I guess. I would never wear a neon color into my everyday life, right? But although I will be wearing bright pink pants to a Barbie premiere. So I’m going to go. I’m going to watch a Barbie movie. When is it? Like, 22nd or 23rd. So me and my girlfriends, we have this whole thing. We’re going to make our nails done in pretty pink and wear all this neon colors just because it’s appropriate. I don’t love it, love it in my everyday life, but sometimes it’s fun and sometimes I enjoy seeing them in the emails as well.

Kristen: 44:41

Yeah, no, that’s a great point. Um, the Barbie movie is huge right now and that’s also tying back to the nostalgia and the bright colors.

Vira: 44:48

It’s—

Kristen: 44:48

their marketing is amazing. They, they’ve just done a fantastic job with that. So that’s a super good point. Um, but neon just adds that upbeat, happy feel to your emails. And while some brands do play it safe with their color palettes. This kind of helps you stand out as a fun, youthful brand, especially. So if your target is younger millennials or Gen Z, this is just perfect. But like we mentioned before, you can have too much neon and it become— it can become a little bit overwhelming. So balance is essential. There’s this thing they call it like when colors vibrate off each other.

Vira: 45:22

Mm-hmm.

Kristen: 45:22

So if you have 2 super bright colors on top of each other, it’s really hard for anyone’s eyes, especially actually thinking of accessibility. So it’s just something to always keep in mind and use it as kind of an accent to highlight what you want, but not too much. So yeah, just use them sparingly. Neon colors stand out really well on dark backgrounds. So we have a few examples here. They use the neon color in their call to action, which is just 10 out of 10, an amazing choice because you’re not going to miss it. You’re going to read what’s in that call to action. And then also in the images here, they have some brighter colors. So this is a good way of using neon colors very sparingly. So I like this email as an example. I would maybe add a few more colors in there, but that’s just me. Um, and then we have another example here. This is like, I love this. So I know we were just talking about having too many neons on top of each other, but this is nice because the only true neon color in this example we here is the neon green yellow. The other colors are almost neon, but not quite. So I love this. This is like a great example of a bright, fun email that’s not hard to look at. So great use of neon colors here. And then our last example.

Vira: 46:39

What do you think of this one? Yeah, I’m curious to hear what you have to say about it.

Kristen: 46:45

I really like it. It definitely makes you feel a type of way. This almost gives me, um, like a Grateful Dead ’90s feel as well, but like a more muted version. So I think that’s just the coolest graphic. Um, for those of you who can’t see our screen, it has like a butterfly and 2 eyes and some skulls and almost looks like a lava lamp. That’s kind of what I’m getting from it, like a lava lampy vibe. So this is fun.

Vira: 47:11

Yeah.

Kristen: 47:12

I like this Yeah, it’s fun.

Vira: 47:15

It’s not necessarily like neon again. It’s more like subtle colors, but it still gives you that reference to the ’90s or the’80s. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Kristen: 47:29

It’s like they just turn the saturation down a little bit. But yeah, no, I love this example.

Vira: 47:35

Yeah, no, it’s a good one. Wow. We had covered a lot, honestly, Kristen, and I feel like some of these trends, they are connected, like nostalgic designer designs and like neon colors, uh, and like floating blocks and, uh, like this minimalistic designs and stuff like that. Um, they are kind of connected and it all comes down to understanding who your customer is and what will work well for them. Um, because I know for some of my brands that like minimal clean look might not convey the message as well as the bright, busy email even. So yeah, you, it, it always comes down to like delivering the right message to the right person, I guess, and understanding who your customers are. Yeah.

Kristen: 48:22

Yeah, that’s a perfect way to put it. I think there’s, there’s space for all of this in the design world. You just have to know where to utilize it. So that’s great.

Vira: 48:31

Definitely. Awesome. It was so fun having you on our podcast, Kristen. We should do it again. Someday.

Kristen: 48:36

Yeah, no, this was awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

Vira: 48:39

Cool. Yeah, guys, if you, as always, if you like what we do, please send us a review, leave us a review, screenshot your review, send us the email with your review, and we will send you like a freebie from Flowium. It’s really, it’s a really good one. Yeah. And next week we will be talking to our partner from Justuno who actually will be talking about all of the exciting ways to optimize your opt-in strategy and how you can get the most out of your opt-in strategy. So yeah, definitely come back next Tuesday. We’ll be talking to Justuno. And thank you for listening to our podcast. We’ll see you next Tuesday. Bye.