When reviewing emails this month I found some common attributes and styles in my favorites. Instead of just going email by email I decided to group them so I could talk about the similarities in a bit more detail.

Texting Gifs

I wouldn’t call texting trendy but I do think that it is a visual style that makes people stop and read things. Below are two examples of this from this month from two different brands, Olive Garden and Hot Topic. I don’t think I ever expected to write a sentence which included those two things together, but here we are.

Olive Garden – Moscato Day

With Olive Garden, I think it is important to point out the pacing difference right away. The gif is very slow paced as if you are really waiting for a reply at first. The “…” only appears for the first message and then the messages start coming more quickly. The replies are very short and simple, after all they got their primary message out in the third text. I have strong feelings about their overuse of emojis but I will get to that a bit more below.

Hot Topic – Mother’s Day

Hot Topic’s execution feels a lot more natural. The messages are longer AND faster which I read as the designer trusting it’s audience. It gets that Mother’s Day reminder out in the first text and then keeps the customer reading by being clever and funny.

The use of emojis feels more intentional here. The Olive Garden one felt realistic because everyone knows that person who uses a string of 5 or more emojis (I may even BE that person) but it is just visual noise and does not help convey meaning. Whereas with Hot Topic they are used in place of language, “Mind Blown” or “Rock On” doesn’t mean the same thing as the same thing written in emoji.

To be honest, I didn’t know there WAS a “Mind blown” emoji.

The other strong addition to this email was the edited keyboard. Maybe not everyone who sees it in their inbox notices the sale message but for those who do it is fairly clever and clickable.

Emoji Usage

While we are on emoji usage, I wanted to cover some dos and don’ts. The most important thing to remember is that you do not know how the person seeing the email is going to be viewing it. Is it a desktop or phone? Is it an Android or iPhone? Is it an ancient version of Outlook? So many variables. Ultimately you are going to want your fail mode to look as good as possible and as unconfusing to that user as possible. Below is an assortment of emojis in subject lines viewed in my Gmail inbox via chrome. Google has their own version of emojis (just like Apple and Android devices) and as such, there is variation between the display in the upper tab and the email itself. For a basic understanding of the level of variation check out Unicode’s comparison charts.

Low-risk Emoji Usage

With pencils, they may face different ways. One is bright green. This is a pretty low-risk emoji because it conveys the same meaning even when the design is different.

Similarly, hearts maybe display as different shades of the same color but ultimately look roughly the same.

The goal is to convey simple messages and visually attract attention.

Gender and Color Specific Emojis

Gmail doesn’t have a version of the running person as a woman. So instead it gives a running guy and then the symbol for woman. Odd messaging. And with the medium dark-skinned female surfer, there was an even weirder rendering choice. Ultimately, it is a really great thing that emojis are getting more representation but Gmail and other email clients have not yet caught up.

Be Clever

Just using emojis can set a subject line apart. But overuse or incorrect usage can make a message look like spam or actual junk mail. More than anything it needs to be part of the story you are telling.

Image Backgrounds

With most promotional emails, designers stick to a tight color of text and images, generally center aligned, with a white or light grey background surrounding it. To me, this is mostly done because it is easier to predict what different email clients will display the email as and there is less variation from desktop to mobile. I wanted to spotlight two brands that use detailed backgrounds, which I would argue make them stand out from the rest of my inbox.

As with Olive Garden and Hot Topic, these are two very different brands and it really surprised me that they had similar design elements.

Domino’s Pizza uses hand drawn and vintage elements throughout their branding. These details backgrounds continue that branding in a way that makes their emails feel more like their website and printed materials. Their subtle colors frame the more vibrant colors in the main body of the email and do not distract on mobile.

Mysterious Package Company uses mostly dark colors to frame their emails and the imagery is pretty stunning. Each mysterious package is a collection of letters and items which tell a story to the recipient. These emails are an example of their attention to detail and craft.

Domino’s Pizza

Mysterious Package Company

Subtle Gifs

Modcloth had two email designs this month which really showed off some subtle animation flair. One of the most interest parts is that they did not focus on the brands clothing at all.

The first one was a pretty classic cinemagraph. This one was all about setting a mood. It is just some clouds going by in front of some viewfinder binoculars, on a beach. The copy tells you to “scope out” their best sellers.

The second is even more subtle. It is just a light rustle of the branches of a palm tree. It is just enough to have made me pause on this email longer than I might have otherwise.

Last Month’s Favorite Promo Emails