Gallery: Three column

This great looking Christmas letter from Ondine Restaurant chef Roy Brett by designers Atalanta is laid out across a 3 column grid in a most elegant manner. The simple and readable type is complemented by tasteful borders and flourishes, and the corn-colored quote really enlivens an otherwise restrained palette.

All up, this is a timeless design that would look just as elegant as a printed letter or flyer, but in many ways has been specifically designed for the inbox.

Perfect for those ready to set out to explore the world, we’re sure that the nomad newsletter by Atlas Travel is a most welcome addition to its subscribers’ inboxes.

I quite liked the header area, not too crowded and just the right amount of information for readers to become familiar with the sender without needing to scroll down. Another aspect that gets the nod is the distinct division of articles. Simple but effective, the warm grey blocks assist the photographs in really standing out.

Lastly, the alternative sections such as the giveaway and start packing areas are pleasant to look at, with their textured feel, however for the giveaway, text would have made for a better reading experience instead of an image that won’t always load by default. Overall, a great design by the team at Rocketspark.

Where did the year go? Movember (the month formally known as November) is upon us again, which means it’s time for top lips to say "No" to razors in the name of supporting men’s health. This fantastic email is certainly an eye catcher and was designed by Canadian Movember advocates, FlyByWire.

The limited colors make the overall appearance impressively sharp and handsomely masculine with a design that degrades well in cases where background images are not supported, or images not loaded at all.

This campaign by Joseph Szala at Vigor just goes to show that they’re definitely in-‘vigor’-ated by nature, as well as by name. Just like the noun their company is named after, this campaign is full of energy, enthusiasm and intensity.

For ‘starters’ (they’re a restaurant branding consultancy - see what I did there?) I love their use of bold, vibrant images and social media icons, which really stand out against the subtle grey background. They’ve also managed to infuse lots of personality: the ‘Wanna see the pretty pictures?’ web version link and cheeky permission reminder at the base of the campaign are specific, yet playful. It all goes to show that you can still have a little fun with your links, while maintaining all-important functionality.

While their use of contrasting images should be admired, their inclusion of actual styled text within the campaign is just as impressive. Rather than be lazy and incorporate their masthead and volume / issue numbers into a single banner image, they’ve taken the time to slice and code them up inside a dedicated table, ensuring that the text you can see remains as actual, highlightable, readable text, rather than as part of an image or alt text. This certainly helps to keep image sizes down while maintaining readability.

This elegant campaign by Studio Round (and developed by Efront), is an odd mix of simplicity and complexity that almost boggles my mind in its contrast. I absolutely love the clean look of a solid background color and clean straight margins. The use of only a few different font sizes does a great job of drawing the eye to what’s important and reducing any clutter in the design. Best of all, in my opinion, is the use of a 3 column, magazine-like layout - it adds that extra touch of sophistication, taking the email from what could have been something quite plain and making it something a bit more special.

Gloop Design & Marketing’s newsletter successfully displays a lot of information within neat content blocks, displayed in a varying 1, 2 and 3 column layout. The color scheme also looks great, being subtle and gray in some areas, but bright and yellow in others. This helped it to jump out from the crowd and capture our attention.

There’s an informative permission reminder right at the top of the email. We love seeing these, as they remind the subscriber exactly how they came to be on the mailing list, and when positioned right at the top, it’s the first thing that is read when the email is opened. In this case, the black background also helps to separate it from the rest of the newsletter.

Another good trick is to include alt text on images where appropriate. In this case, call us today on 020 8123 6360 loads when the phone number image doesn’t. However, we’d only suggest including alt text where relevant and refrain from using image for content images as it doesn’t offer a lot of value to the overall design.

While sifting through campaigns the other day, the interesting color scheme of this email newsletter from Savvy.je caught my eye. The combination of teal and maroon is not something you see everyday and really makes this email stand out from the rest.

The application of these colors is not used sparingly, but that really works well for the design. The news items are boxed out by solid columns of alternating colors, making each news snippet clear and easy to read. Additionally, the columns come close to covering the entire height of the campaign itself, which gives the campaign a very solid, rigid look.