We're really pleased to introduce... This neat little notification email from WorkFu!

When it comes to letting your users know that you have made changes to your application, it can be easy to over do things a little. Here however, is a great example in getting the details out in a simple and efficient way. Even though it hasn't been optimised for mobile devices, it still reads really well on my iPhone. The customised Twitter button, inviting current users to share with friends is a fine touch.

It's great to see Mike Kus and team keeping their users so keenly up to date during the beta of their up-and-coming job site, especially as communications like this are so often just an after-thought amidst all the development and design busyness that leads up to a launch.

Really simple, but really effective!

Do you remember the day you discovered all those TED videos that were suddenly available to the common joe? It was like a whole new world opened up. This smart and visually stunning email by TBD captures the Ted brand so well with it’s modern art styling, dramatic colors, and that deceptively simple yet enticing graphic that is reminiscent of those static “moving” illusions.

A nice narrow layout ensures mobile friendliness and a clever use of layout space means that a lot of the important info gets above the proverbial fold. All around, an email that will grab attention when it arrives.

Hello, my name is Davida and I like Courier. I’ve always liked it, sometimes secretly, like when my colleagues would be bashing it’s name loudly from the desk next over. But I’ve always loved the way it gives a typewriter feel and when combined with the visual metaphor of paper, although commonly used, I really do think works well. 

Adding to this design by The Turtle Conservancy are pleasing textures and adorable photos. The designers make nice use of white space to separate out the articles which helps bring attention to the ‘Read More’ link on the shortened articles.  Generally, I would recommend against such a long email, but with such a specialized topic I’d be willing to bet that this audience is very engaged and would be happy to receive a lot of information on a topic dear to their hearts.

This eye-capturing email campaign, designed by Matt Hackett, packs a lot of content well into a small area but remains uncrowded and easy to read. A peek at David Bostock’s stunning wedding photography portfolio is accompanied by testimonials, contact information, links and more.

The distinct separation of foreground and background colors is emphasized so simply by the subtle shadows around the top and bottom corners, assisting the photographs to leap from the screen to the viewer’s attention.

We particularly like the detailed permission reminder, which leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind as to why they’re receiving the email. Overall, this is a thoughtfully-designed email and a credit to Matt Hackett’s familiarity with the medium.

This invitation email for St. Theresa Catholic School by Fervor Creative knows what its job is, and does it well.  It’s simple use of three colours and subtle shades thereof, basic but effective imagery, plus short but informative content that makes this campaign a delight. The ample use of text ensures that most of the message can be read, even when images aren’t displaying in the inbox.

On that note, the only minor suggestion would be to have a text alternative for those buttons, to be sure they still have some context under these conditions. But overall, this is a great campaign that’s sure to captivate subscribers at any time of day or night.

The Ghostly Store sells a variety of cool stuff like music, art and clothing - and we thought this campaign by Daniel Hunninghake looked pretty cool too!

The overall appearance is a very neat, lightweight design. The right balance of text and the variety of ways the products have been laid out make the email an interesting browse. Also achieving this balance are the call to action links, which are subtle, yet striking. The purple text mimics Ghostly’s logo and the light gray background and fine shadow give the links a tactile “button-like” feel.

We always like mobile-friendly layouts and this is one of them. For example, the links here have been set apart from the text (and each other), reducing the risk of accidentally tapping things that by accident.

The little sketches on this email produced by DanceXchange for the International Dance Festival Birmingham really bring it alive. The newsletter layout makes for an easy read in email clients - for example, the single column of text is likely to display nicely on a mobile device. Well done to designers Supercool for making it happen.

That said, we’d love the permission reminder in the footer to be more meaningful. Something like, “You’re receiving this email because you signed up for Home updates via …” would be appropriate. We’ve featured a couple of tips for writing effective permission reminders.

Overall, this is a carefully designed and visually interesting campaign, not to mention a great example for other organizations taking part in events leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

If Enigma's goal is to make 2012 "bigger, bright, better..." then they are definitely off to a great start with this email design. The colors absolutely leap off the screen in what could have been an overly bright cacophony of colors and images, but instead just work incredibly well and come across as a cheerful and exuberant tone.

We love their focus on mobile optimization, as shown by their use of media queries and a one-column layout. If you think this looks nice on the desktop monitor, it looks even better when viewed on your @media -supporting phone. If you're keen to do the same, why not take a look at their code, check out our blog post on mobile email design, or easier yet, use the template builder?

One suggestion would be that they increase the contrast between their text and background colors, though. Some areas with grey or white text weren't as easy to read as they could have been. But overall, this is a campaign that's worth cracking open the champagne for!

Club Of The Waves has a keen eye for really fantastic surf artwork, so it's great to see how Andrew Couldwell at RoomFive managed to capture this in his email design for them. He deftly uses alt text and background colors on images; each thumbnail has a background corresponding to its left border color creating a column made up of different colored blocks, making for an interesting design, even without images showing.

There's something to be said for not using the same link color for each article. It's a bit like a 'which-one-of-these-is-not-like-the-others' puzzle. I can't help but wonder, 'Why is that link yellow?', and I'm tempted to click it just out curiosity.

The text in the campaign also benefits from tight editing. Less is more. Each text section could only be 3 lines within the narrow column, so I imagine the value of each and every word was weighed. The result is a short email that's easy on the eyes.

This awesome email from design agency Make for Stedet Tæller really personifies the idea of a sleek well designed email. A subtle blue background helps draw attention to the clearly segmented sections so your eyes know exactly where to go and the bright vibrant images really spice things up when they're enabled. I love how well it matches their overall site branding as well. It's instantly recognizable as being from Stedet Tæller, while still being simplified for email.

I would, however, suggest that they make their unsubscribe a text link rather than an image. It's always best to be safe and make sure the unsubscribe is clearly labeled even with images off.

Here's an email from DesignKarma that I would have loved to see in my inbox for Christmas. What's not to love about the super simple layout and color scheme? Turquoise and black are a great pairing.

What might not be immediately obvious, though, is that this is a fluid layout, as opposed to the fixed layouts that make up 99.9% of email. Even the width of the images in the campaign expand/contract so that the layout fits the window, and it'll shrink nicely to fit smaller (read mobile) screens. This won't work for everyone, but it's fun to see when it does. Try it now! Click the screenshot above and then resize your browser window.

The Southern Design team have put together a design that has been built to suit the constraints of email - it's clearly linked in branding to the main site, but is simpler and cleaner. We really like the simple, text-based design.

The shifting layout from one, to two columns adds lots of visual interest, as do the bright images and sense of hierarchy in the text. Our only advice would be to be careful featuring URLs as text, as these can sometimes trigger phishing warnings, but overall, this is a lean and clean email that's sure to look good in any inbox.

Rawww created their own Christmas email to match the launch page of their upcoming 'Infographic of the day' website. Once images are loaded, this bold design that's made to look like it's set on Christmas-themed infographic wrapping paper really stands out.

I would have liked to see actual text used in the header above to prevent the message being lost when images are disabled. Also, the website link below can potentially trigger phishing warnings. Hopefully these didn't dampen the Christmas spirit, as it's a jolly design nonetheless.

This email for Blamey by nhocreative is stylish simplicity itself with a delicious mix of the bold contrasting with the understated. Oddly enough, I am enamored with the humble footer which simply lists out the social options and websites - it makes it feel much more like a gentle invitation than an in-your-face plea to connect.

However, and I feel more and more strongly about this these days since I practically live on my phone, I would highly suggest the use of mobile optimization to slightly scale down the width of the overall email for those on the go.

This newsletter for Bluecadet makes good use of a limited colour palette as to train your focus on the content. It’s a reasonably long email, but the clear divisions and font-size variations make it easy to scan.

We like the consistent way that images are displayed throughout the email, the custom social sharing buttons and that the links through to more information are very clear. The one-column layout also makes this ideal for viewing on mobile devices. Overall, this newsletter does great service to the design minds on the Bluecadet team.

An appealing newspaper-style approach to Distracted's quirky store newsletter today. It certainly stands out from the typical corporate publication with a distinctly vintage look, but despite an emphasis on ornamentation, it remains readable.

A lot of copy is included - it's almost like a newspaper that's been loosely adapted for email - but we figure that people familiar with their unique style will know and love this. Our only concern is how the long columns of text will hold up on mobile devices, as well as when readers move from article, to the next.

Overall, it's a distinctive design from the ever-talented Studio Bomba team!

What a lovely email that the clearly multi-talented photographer Daniel Stroka designed to showcase his beautiful botanical photography. He captures the subdued tones of his photography in the email, keeping things simple and light.

One suggestion would be that the email would benefit from the use of some mobile optimization to slightly scale down the width of the images and content. But overall, we think this design would be soothing to view in any email client.

If there’s one publication that’s been creating lots of buzz lately, it’s Offscreen Magazine. Describing itself as being a collectable tome on ‘the people behind bits and & pixels’ and ‘the human side of interfaces’,  Issue #1 features the likes of Dan Cederholm, Hannah Donovan (of Last.fm fame) and Ryan Singer. But that’s not all - Offscreen also features a peek into creative workspaces, like SoundCloud‘s hacker-friendly habitat and yes, there’s four pages dedicated to our southern Sydney HQ. In case you’re curious.

But back to the email newsletter. Designer Kai Brach has created an appealing preview of Offscreen Mag’s maiden issue, which may seem image-heavy, but given how visual the magazine is, almost all can be forgiven. Below the thumbnails is a column of text that is ideal for reading on a mobile device and a clear call-to-action that leads to Offscreen’s identically-branded site. The newsletter, site and magazine itself feature such considered use of type, that you can almost hear design geeks squealing in delight, cycling caps being carried off by an inexplicable wind.

We love this newsletter, as we love the magazine. In fact, I love the smell of the magazine. It’s pulpy, rich, warm. Follow the newsletter’s promise and go buy one for yourself, then bliss out on design stories from both on- and offscreen.

This wonderful, airy design by Tonne Gramme, with the gentle styling of the text, generous margins, and monotone colors, all work together to give focus to the bold art being featured in the email. It’s like visiting a gothic antiques store - none of the artworks would be caught dead in today’s sterile, Ikea-inspired homes. In a way, the use of a regular layout simply enhances the irregular works therein.

The one-column layout makes this email ideal for viewing on mobile devices, however I would have preferred consistent image widths to create a balanced feel as you scroll through the different products.