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We spotted this email for Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand and instantly fell in love with the simplistic nature of the lightweight design. It’s mostly text, aside from the subtle images throughout the body and background that compliment the easy-reading nature of the invitation. A suggestion would be to add alt text for the header image, incase it doesn’t load, but aside from that, a simplistic, effective design.

Editor’s note: This email also represents a gentler time. After New Zealand’s triumph over France during the recent Rugby World Cup, I don’t expect the French will have our neighbours over for dinner any time soon!

I admit it, I’m a sucker for companies that care about feedback. Here at Campaign Monitor, our customer’s opinions matter and I always stop and take notice when I see the same attitude from other companies, it says something about them. It doesn’t hurt when it comes in a nicely designed package either!

The design for City Farmers by the Perth-based crew at Generator is subtle without images, but really holds together which is the important thing. I would have preferred that the click here link be text, though, so that nothing is lost in those image off situations.

One thing that isn’t visible in the gallery view is the clever use of personalization. It isn’t just the typical use of a name (though that’s there), but they’re also reminding them of the specific store they shopped at and on what day. It reminds the subscribers and will help to get the best feedback possible.

‘Fanciful’ comes to mind when I see this campaign. Who knew putting big red lips on a suit-wearing buffalo could make a campaign so fun?!

Seriously, though, this design isn’t just cute, it’s smart too. The team at Morph went to lengths to use text wherever possible (which we can’t encourage enough) and the content is exceptionally well organized. Eye-pleasing colors are used to highlight the main sections and the ‘click here’ links stand out, while not distracting from flow of reading.

Three cheers for a campaign that’s not only visually delightful, but fills you with an eagerness to read it!

It doesn’t take much to dress up an email. Fartein Valen’s designer, Drops Designkontor, followed the ‘less is more’ motto and added small touches like patterned background images and rounded corners. I especially like how they cut the corner off the main image to match the angular logo. They also gave more than average leading to provide better breathing room for the text and left just enough white space around the edges to keep it from feeling cramped.

My only suggestion would be to swap out the URL in the link text at the bottom with something like ‘Visit our site’ to avoid phishing scares for their readers.

Online stores often need to evoke the sort of feelings that one would get if they visited a physical shopfront, in order to stand out and avoid feeling flat. From the subtle background to the gentle bursts of color in the heading, links and photography, everything in this campaign for Artery Store by Niche Studio just exudes a certain something and makes the design rich but simple enough to highlight the content within.

For the most part, this is an eye-catching campaign that could easily be converted into a template, suitable for our editor. I would, however, suggest editing the permission reminder at the bottom to be more descriptive about how someone opted in rather than just stating that they subscribed.

The true test of a design is when it stands up even if you can’t read the content… And this design from Airside Nippon passes with flying colors. Possessing a serene elegance, it’s pleasing to the eye - regardless of which culture you hail from.

The dark background color and simple font color scheme really make the photography pop and the simple layout allows readers to scan it easily, assuming they understand Japanese. All in all a good job.

This email design for Little Shoppe by Samuel Simon finds strength in its simplicity, with large fields of solid colors, bright photos, and an easy-to-read single-column layout. The ‘Go’ calls-to-action simply stand out - especially with that bright shade of aqua!

That said, it would be good to see more text links in this campaign, as the impact of the buttons could well be lost with images turned off in the inbox. On the topic of text, it’s always good to see a permission reminder at the very top, reminding subscribers why they are getting the email.

Overall, this is an unambiguous campaign, crafted around the notion that keeping it simple is a sure way to stand out. Amongst the private shopping club emails that we regularly see, this is certainly one of the highlights. Well done!

This email campaign for Designer’s Bookshelf by James Santilli is a great example of having all the right elements in all the right places. Being that its a piece for designers, about design books, there’s no doubt that there would have been a lot of pressure to apply a sound understanding of design principles, down to the placement of these elements.

The clear grid layout juxtaposed with vibrant images, text-only headers and distinct links has it all. Even with the images turned off, each link and all vital content are all expertly displayed. Well done!

If you hadn’t noticed, we are suckers for cute, and this email for the ‘First Comes Love’ bridal fair by Studio Bomba sure does cute!

Go ahead and click on the image to view the web version - the bunny hops right across the header! Pair that with a gradient of stunning colors and an impeccable layout and you have the recipe for an all around delightful email design.