AKAR

The lovely colors and stunning imagery were the first thing that caught our eye when we saw this design. But it goes beyond that, the layout is wonderfully balanced with the images alternating sides as you scroll down which allows each artist’s work to stand out on its own. The consistent styling of each section gives a sense of continuity to the whole design.
The content is well designed, too. The whole email leads off with a simply stated announcement. The recipient will have to read no further to get the most important piece of information the email has to offer. From there it launches into details of the featured artists and other inviting information such as a link to their online shop and current specials. All in all the content seems perfectly prioritized.
LOG.TV

Wonderful retro imagery and bold oranges dominate this graphically-geared email. Our favorite part is the TV power cord looping through the entire email which invites you to scroll down for more and literally ties the whole thing together. All these different elements work together to create a fun and catchy design that doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously.
One gentle suggestion would be to convert the multi-colored list of features in the middle of the email from image-only to text plus background color.
Eerograms

At first glance this email looks like one giant image, but in fact all the content is in real text. The big image is striking, but also downloads quickly as a black and white photo.
Take a look at the prominent forward to friend link, and the instructions on how people can sign up to the list. A good looking email that takes a different approach to most!
Next Generation Arts

Sometimes the simplest design can be the perfect design for email. The rich colors combined with a wide, open layout make this newsletter very readable.
The few images are not essential, but are enough to make the design look complete and thought through. We also liked the mini site navigation elements at the top right.
EpikOne - Get Optimized

This newsletter opens with a promise of “updates on EpikOne along with insights into online marketing, web analytics and testing”. We really liked the super clear permission reminder, and newsletter explanation for this first edition.
There is a lot of content in this email, but it is well structured and not overwhelming. A nice design touch is the contact details which look notched into the main content.
The Studio at Grayrock

Today’s gallery entry is a great implementation of an RSVP invitation style email with Campaign Monitor.
Notice how the top of the email is all text, and the real graphic impact is reserved for the bottom. So if images don’t load, the message is still clear. If they do, then the reader is left with the full imagery of the sender. Really nice work.
Rock, Paper, Scissors

Check out this clean fun design from Rock, Paper, Scissors. We love how everything flows with abundant whitespace giving it a clear and simple aesthetic. Choosing smaller blurbs and linking to their website to read more is a great call to action and really helps keep their newsletter simple and easy to read.
Our only suggestions would be to add a permission reminder and to convert the section headings to text rather than images.
Groove Commerce

From Baltimore, Maryland based Groove Commerce comes this cleanly designed simple newsletter. We especially loved the varying background colors throughout, they do a fabulous job of setting off certain parts of the content.
Our only suggestion for change would be to convert the visit site links to text rather than using images, in case images are disabled.
Businesswriters & Design

A newsletter about a design firm better have a knockout design and this one delivers. The email starts off with a bang with some seriously bold typography in the header. Our favorite element is the oversized bracket, }, which gets re-contextualized as a flourish pointing to their intro sentence. The three case studies that follow are illustrated by colorful detailed close-ups of their latest work.
It would have been nice to see a good permission reminder at the very top of the email.
MCA Denver

Check out this understated design from MCA DENVER. The elegance here is in the fine typography in the header and the simple list of events illustrated by photos. Notice the abundant white space which gives each element its own stage. The style of the email also perfectly mimics their website so which is great for brand recognition and consistency.
Another smart move was cherry-picking just a few items to showcase in the email from their full program. This results in a much more digestable email that doesn’t need to be scrolled forever downward into the void. Of course, it sure would have been nice to see a good permission reminder at the very top of the email.