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8 Gorgeous Email Newsletters From Design Industry Pros

Beefree team
Beefree team
Jun 19, 2017
8 Gorgeous Email Newsletters From Design Industry Pros
8 Gorgeous Email Newsletters From Design Industry Pros

When it comes to design newsletters, which ones from the design industry stand out? We rounded up eight of our favorite newsletters sent by designers, design organizations, and agencies to get a look at how the pros do email.As you might expect, the messages are beautiful to look at; each one offers unexpected design choices and fresh ideas to use in your own email marketing. So, let's evaluate the visuals!

#1: AIGA Eye on Design

"Eye on Design" is published by AIGA, the oldest and largest nonprofit design organization in the U.S. The newsletter aims to keep subscribers up to speed on the best new work from emerging and established designers around the world. 

AIGA design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Color! In a sea of so many white emails, the classic "Eye on Design" pink can't be missed. AIGA also proves that borders can be done well. The dark pink border around each newsletter is distinct and attractive, and a fresh take on the "boxed" email look.
  • Unusual image shapes. Who said every image used in your inverse pyramid layouts needs to be rectangular? AIGA's rotation of unique photo crops (triangular, circular, square) adds visual interest.

#2: It's Nice That

London-based It's Nice That prides itself on championing creative work, whether through its website, talk series, magazine, or daily roundup newsletter. The newsletters are straightforward and photo-focused, with less emphasis on text. We trimmed this example for easier viewing:

It's Nice That design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Simplicity.Each email is beautifully streamlined: One column. No navigation menu. Vibrant, clickable images without much text.
  • Use of white space. The white space used in the header and throughout the email gives it a fresh feel. And, the padding between each module is just right!

#3: Design Milk

Design Milk, a blog founded by Jaime Derringer, features design inspiration across industries, from architecture to art to tech. The "Design Milk Daily" provides subscribers with a rundown of the blog's latest content in an easy-to-digest format.

Design Milk design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Content arrangement. The side-by-side text and photo modules give the email a two-column layout look, even though it's just one. It's a style we don't often see, and it stands out.
  • Live text. The titles to the left of each image aren't part of the images in the module; live text is highlighted by light gray HTML background colors.

#4: Swissmiss

Swissmiss—as stated in the header of each newsletter—is a design blog/studio run by Tina Roth Eisenberg. She started Swissmiss back in 2005, and the well-known design journal now averages over a million unique visitors a month. How's that for inspiration?! Each weekday, Swissmiss's newsletter delivers a collection of curated design content to inboxes.

Swissmiss design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • A pop of color in the header. The red bar at the top isn't an image; it's a well-placed block of HTML color.
  • Quotes and poems. Swissmiss's newsletters regularly include blocks of quotes or poems, like the Dan Sullivan quote at the end of this email. This reminds us of the way General Assembly sometimes uses a quote as a sign-off in its email campaigns. It's a nice touch, and something you don't often see.

#5: InVision

InVision is a design workflow platform, and the company also sends weekly design newsletters with great content. The emails all have a beautiful, clean layout.

InVision design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Clever CTA copy. InVision maintains readers' attention with its thoughtfully-crafted CTA buttons. They're well designed, and the text makes them even more tempting to click on.
  • Generous line height and padding. White space is achieved by letting each piece of content breathe. A good rule of thumb is to set your line height to be at least 1.3x the height of your letters, maintaining a comfortable distance between lines. Plus, breaks between each section should be the height of a full line of text. The result: great legibility and content that don't feel cramped.

#6: Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is a digital mag for professional web designers and developers. It's an incredible resource, with a newsletter that consistently includes more than 10 useful articles, tools, and resources for designers. We reduced the view of this recent edition because of its long length:

Smashing Magazine design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Anchor links. Because emails are so long, Smashing always includes a table of content with anchor links to each section. For long emails like this, anchor links are incredibly useful, and they're not difficult to implement! Check out our anchor links tutorial for easy instructions.
  • Numbered section headings with large font. Consistent formatting for section headers provides organization for long, text-heavy emails. We love the large-sized typeface and numbering system.

#7: 10 Things from Your Majesty Co.

Your Majesty Co. is a design and tech firm based in New York and Amsterdam. Their "10 Things" newsletter is sent weekly, always with a list of 10 recommendations that week. The newsletter is strikingly spare.

Your Majesty Co. design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • "Secret" linked text. The email's content doesn't look linked, but it is. The link style has been formatted to be black text without any formatting. Normally, we wouldn't recommend this unexpected technique because readers might miss your links. But in this case, newsletter recipients know what to expect, since the newsletter has the same look each week.
  • Serious simplicity. No need to worry about image formatting, text to image ratios, or HTML background colors. Your Majesty Co. made an intentional choice to keep their newsletter stunningly simple, and this definitely sets them apart.

#8: Shillington

The Shillington School of Graphic Design has been around since 1997 and is known for helping designers kickstart their careers. The newsletter, sent once a week, always brings a pop of color.

Shillington design newsletters

Design Choices We Love:

  • Alternating background colors. Each newsletter sticks with a color pairing from Shillington's brand palette—in this case, it's purple and teal. The bold colors, striking header, and consistent layout choices make the newsletter immediately recognizable, even as the colors change.
  • Standout header design. The header is unique and elegant, with just a little flair that goes beyond the company logo.

Design your next email and go Pro!

If you've been inspired by the design pros featured here, put your new ideas to use with the BEE editor and create your next email message.No HTML knowledge is required, and your email will be mobile responsive. Sign-up for a BEE Pro free trial!

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Let’s get into it.  

#1. Unique, tailored experiences 

Damian Grabarczyk, the co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., says, “We faced the challenge of connecting meaningfully with an audience that expects more than one-size-fits-all communication.” 

When we speak about crafting tailored emails we mean going beyond the recipient's first name in the subject line. We’re talking about optimizing your entire email strategy to design multi-stage touchpoints to nurture leads across the customer lifecycle. As well as, leveraging data to send hyper-personalized, relevant, and engaging emails that feel less like a broadcast message and more like a conversation. 

Many are using AI machine learning algorithms and AI automation to analyze customer interactions, past purchases, browsing habits, website visits, and even social media behavior to curate engaging email content that resonates deeply with the real-time needs of recipients.

For PetLab Co this looked like including content such as an individual’s pet health history or product usage timelines. Damian Grabarzyk expands, “This approach transformed the conversion rate and strengthened customer loyalty. As we look ahead, I see brands in 2025 moving beyond generic personalization to adopt strategies that make customers feel truly understood and valued.”

On the other hand, many are leaning into user-generated content (UGC) for crafting tailored experiences. Customers today are more likely to trust the opinions of peers over branded messages. UGC like customer reviews, testimonials, videos, and photos are the best form of social proof depicting real people using and benefitting from your products or services. 

We see the benefits of using both AI and UGC to get the most out of your email conversions ;). 

#2. AI tools as an addition, not a substitution

Experts at NordPass state, "AI-powered content generation tools are not here to replace email copywriters and marketers. These tools make us more efficient. The smarter the tool is, the better equipped we are to create high-performing email content that drives results." 

AI tools can support us by significantly enhancing the speed, precision, and effectiveness of your emails. For instance while traditionally A/B testing has required a lot of time to analyze small variations with AI you quickly implement and test multiple email elements and make adjustments based on real-time engagement data. There are AI algorithms that can even predict which variations are most likely to resonate with different audience segments, leading to more accurate targeting and faster optimization.

In short, AI tools are revolutionizing the way we craft and optimize our email’s deliverability. There are many different types of AI solutions so we suggest finding the right one for your needs. 

#3. Even more transparency around data

With AI continuing to rise, folks are more and more concerned about where their data is going. That’s where zero-party data collection becomes a key strategy in email marketing, allowing you to gather data directly from customers rather than relying on third-party sources. 

Zero-party data includes information that consumers willingly share, such as preferences, interests, and purchase intentions. This data is often collected through surveys, preference centers, quizzes, or interactive content and is highly valuable because it is shared explicitly, ensuring accuracy and deeper personalization without privacy concerns associated with third-party tracking.

As privacy regulations tighten, zero-party data will empower you to deliver hyper-personalized email experiences while respecting user privacy. This approach will help you build trust, as customers feel more in control of their data, and you gain insights that lead to more relevant and engaging email content.

#4. The death of static emails

With attention span getting shorter day after day, digest-format emails are expected to rise in popularity in 2025. Presenting email content in an easy-to-scan, organized, and minimalistic layout will surely help deliver the most relevant information in a fraction of the time. 

Additionally, interactive emails will allow recipients to directly engage within the email without having to visit a landing page or website. Interactive elements like product carousels, polls, and quizzes create a dynamic experience that keeps subscribers engaged, especially in visually driven industries like fashion brands

So what now? 

You’ve heard these strategies before, but now it’s time to actually put them into action. The brands that win at email marketing in 2025 won’t just be sending emails—they’ll be creating experiences. Whether it’s hyper-personalized content, AI-driven efficiency, zero-party data collection, or interactive emails that break the mold, the key is to stay ahead of the curve.

So, what’s the first strategy you’ll finally implement? Your inbox (and your audience) are waiting.

How to Leverage Email Campaigns to Gather Sincere Product Reviews

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What do customers think about your brand’s products? The best way to find out is to ask them directly, which you can do via strategic email campaigns.

Email makes gathering authentic product reviews quick and easy. By collecting sincere feedback, you can build trust, increase sales, boost loyalty, and innovate product improvements. 

That said, requesting reviews via email requires precise timing, personalized messaging, and lots of engagement optimizations. But don’t worry—we’ll walk you through some key steps to create email campaigns that deliver the valuable feedback you need.

Why product reviews matter

Product reviews do more than confirm that you're meeting customers’ needs. Sincere feedback drives loyalty and sales, offers valuable customer insights, and helps you develop a strategic product development roadmap.

  • Fosters customer loyalty: Requesting and listening to feedback makes your customers feel valued and heard. It demonstrates that you prioritize customer satisfaction, which helps you build stronger, long-term relationships. Review requests also act as re-engagement emails by starting new conversations with customers.
  • Increases sales: Social proof drives sales. According to a recent survey by Power Reviews, 90% of potential customers use online reviews to make purchasing decisions. In fact, reviews have more influence over purchasing decisions than product prices. Turning product reviews into customer testimonials and encouraging reviews on third-party sites can significantly boost sales.
Image sourced from powerreviews.com
  • Builds Customer 360 insights: Customer feedback delivers insights into customer needs and sentiments, enriching Customer 360. Exactly what is Customer 360? It’s a unified, 360-degree view of customer data. It empowers you to tailor products and customer experiences to meet individual needs and preferences. 
  • Drives product improvements: Sincere customer feedback reveals what target customers like/dislike about your products. It provides key insight into their value, functionality, and usability, unlocking large-scale development opportunities.

How to create an email campaign to collect product reviews

Want to unlock the power of product reviews? Let’s explore how to create email campaigns that encourage customers to share their feedback.

Segment your audience

Like promotional emails, product review requests shouldn’t be sent to every subscriber.

If subscribers haven’t had the chance to try your product, product review requests will feel irrelevant and may trigger unsubscriptions. So, only send review email requests to customers recently trying your product.

You can do this by segmenting your email list based on where customers are in the buying cycle. Target loyal customers, recent purchasers, and first-time buyers with tailored email campaigns. This ensures that you’re sending emails to customers most likely to respond with insightful feedback.

Write a compelling email subject line

According to Superoffice, 33% of people open an email based on the subject line. 

Image sourced from superoffice.com

To get the click-through rates you want, your email subject lines should be personalized, relevant, and engaging. Here are some examples:

  • Did you love [product]? Or hate it? Let us know!
  • We value your opinion — help us improve!
  • We want YOU to help us make our product better!
  • Up for a discount? Share your feedback for 10% off! 

Learn more > Tips for writing open worthy subject lines.

Optimize for customer engagement

A successful email marketing strategy relies on customer engagement. Here are some key email elements you need to encourage interactions.

  • An attractive email design: With the right layout, color scheme, typography, and images, you ensure easy readability and promote interaction. Use these engagement-boosting email design best practices to help you create a design that boosts conversion rates.
  • Gratitude and value: Thank customers for reading the email and explaining why their feedback is so important. Also, consider including a personalized Gmail email signature with your content details to build trust and encourage customers to engage with your review request. 
  • Personalized, relevant content: Personalized email content motivates engagement. Use customer data platform (CDP) data to tailor messages to individual customers. What is a CDP? It’s a centralized platform that collects and unifies customer information, building comprehensive customer profiles. 
  • Incentives: Offering a small discount can motivate customers to leave reviews, especially first-time buyers. That said, incentives can (sometimes) generate insincere reviews, so stress the importance of honesty. 
  • A strong call-to-action (CTA): Your CTA should direct readers straight to the reviews submission page. Use clear CTAs with bold buttons and typography to make it stand out.
  • Mobile responsiveness: If your emails are slow to load or don’t display correctly on mobile devices, your bounce rate will spike. Leverage solutions that offer advanced mobile optimization features — such as Beefree— to create responsive emails every single time.

Ask specific, concise questions

Complex, drawn-out questions that are too open-ended can disengage customers. So, get straight to the point with concise, direct questions. Here are some examples:

  • What did you think of [specific product feature]?
  • How often do you use our product?
  • What are your favorite/least favorite features?
  • How likely are you to recommend this product?
  • What could we do to improve our product?

Use a mixture of closed and open-ended questions to increase your chances of receiving meaningful responses.

Make it easy to respond

The easier it is for customers to leave a review, the more responses you’ll receive. So, make the process as seamless and convenient as possible. One way to do this is with survey emails.

Email surveys have high response rates. They can be completed within the email with minimal effort, which is a big plus for busy customers. And, they can generate a wealth of quantitative data and metrics that are quick to analyze, leading to faster improvements. BeeFree has an extensive collection of email survey templates to suit every need.

For longer review requests, include a CTA that directly links to the review submission page. Review forms should use simple, clear language, be optimized for mobile, and have a progress bar. 

You could even provide your telephone contact details to allow customers to leave a review via telephone. It’s the preferred communication method for 55% of Baby Boomers according to Hubspot, so it’s worth considering. 

Leverage small business telephone services from Vonage to access call center capabilities like virtual receptionists and CRM integrations, streamlining processes.

Also consider directing customers to leave reviews on popular review sites, such as Google and Amazon.

Optimize email timings

If you send product review requests too early, there’s a chance your customers won’t have tried your product yet. But if you send them too late, your customer might have forgotten their experience. 

So, when’s the best time to request reviews? 

Aim to send review requests within 7-14 days post-purchase. This gives customers a chance to try the product a few times, leading to more sincere, meaningful reviews. Plan for seasonal surges such as Black Friday and incorporate them into your schedules.

Key takeaways

Do email campaigns work for gathering valuable product reviews that drive improvements, boost trust, and increase sales and loyalty? 

Absolutely — but they need to be strategic.

To generate sincere reviews and valuable data, ensure your marketing emails are personalized, engaging, and optimized for convenience. And, use email list segmentation and marketing automation to ensure they’re sent to the right customers at the right time.

Stay informed on all email trends

From the latest creative design strategies that inspire your next campaign to industry best practices and tech advancements, our newsletter is the go-to for all things creation.

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