Email design
15
min read
In 2025, your email has seconds to capture attention, and design is what makes or breaks that moment. This guide shows you which email design trends are rising, which ones to leave behind, and how to apply the right ideas without overwhelming your workflow.
The inbox has never been more crowded. With every brand fighting for attention and algorithms tightening their grip, simply showing up in someone’s inbox isn’t enough anymore. People subscribe to dozens of newsletters, get product updates, promo blasts, personal emails, and somehow, your email is the one that needs to stand out.
In 2025, it all comes down to modern email design. Sure, you need strong copy to grab the reader’s attention and get the click. But once someone opens your email, design is what keeps them there or sends them straight to the “trash” button.
At TodayMade, we spend a lot of time working on projects like these, and now we’re ready to share the most important lessons with you.
When we looked through Quora threads and Reddit discussions, we found that people spend about 9 to 12 seconds on emails every day. That tiny window is all you get before your message is deleted, ignored, or flagged as spam.
It means someone opens your email, scans the top section, maybe scrolls once, and decides if it’s worth their attention.
In most cases, bad design leads to bad outcomes. Text that’s too dense to skim. Images that take just a second too long to load. CTAs that disappear into the layout. Color choices that feel off-brand or break in dark mode.
Here’s something we saw on Reddit that perfectly captures the frustration:
We’ve all been there. You pour hours into making something look polished, only to watch it break across devices or fall apart in Gmail. You try again, but someone higher up says to stick to the default template because at least it “works.” And suddenly, design becomes a checkbox instead of a lever.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
When done right, email design works for you. It guides the eye, builds trust, shapes what gets seen and what gets ignored. And when everything clicks into place, you get the open, the click, the subscribe, or whatever else your campaign actually needs.
The thing about email marketing trends is that they don’t show up all at once. They creep in through redesigns, A/B tests, and comments like “Hey, that actually looks good on mobile.” And before you know it, they’re everywhere. So, let’s take a look at what’s hot right now.
Minimalism has been around in design for years, and 2025 is no exception. In email design, the smartest move you can make is to strip away distractions.
From a design perspective, this means fewer competing CTAs, tighter messaging, and a layout that adapts gracefully across devices. The good balance is key: enough visual space to let elements breathe, a restrained color palette that feels intentional, and typography that guides the eye without overwhelming it.
We’ve seen this in practice with ShipAngel, a logistics SaaS we worked with. Their emails needed to communicate clearly to busy professionals who don’t have time to parse through cluttered emails. We stripped the design down to wide margins of white space, minimal use of brand elements, and one CTA per message.
On mobile devices, we adapted everything into a clean single-column format, making the email as scannable on a small screen as it was in the desktop inbox.
With around 35% of email users viewing messages in dark mode, designing with it in mind isn’t optional anymore. But there’s a risk. If your layout doesn’t translate well, logos disappear, buttons blend into the dark background, and your carefully crafted message loses impact before it even gets read.
Across sources, designers agree on the next recommendations:
A good practical example here is Netflix emails. The company leans into dark mode as part of its brand personality. Known for its dark interface, Netflix carries the same atmosphere into its campaigns: deep backgrounds, bold red accents, oversized text, and imagery that looks sharp in both light and dark modes.
Personalization used to mean adding a first name to the subject line. In 2025, that barely moves the needle. Today, users expect emails that feel like they were designed specifically for them, and AI is what makes that possible.
Instead of generic blocks of text, we’re seeing emails that adapt in real time based on behavior, user preferences, location, or past purchases. That might be product recommendations that actually match what someone has been browsing, event suggestions tied to their city, or imagery that changes depending on the weather outside.
The technology behind it is already baked into platforms like Klaviyo, Customer.io, and Dynamic Yield, making this level of personalization accessible to more brands than ever.
For designers, it’s an opportunity to create flexible modules that can handle different types of content without breaking the visual system. The challenge is to keep layouts simple enough to work with changing elements, while still looking polished and on-brand.
A familiar example comes from Spotify’s personalized campaign emails. Their messages are powered by data, but what makes them work is graphic design: bold visuals, dynamic color palettes, and layouts that spotlight each user’s unique listening history. This approach drives higher click-through rates and stronger engagement.
Inbox competition is brutal, and static layouts often fail to hold attention. That’s why interactivity and gamification are gaining traction.
Instead of passively scrolling, users are invited to do something inside the email itself — swipe, tap, spin, reveal. This engagement keeps them focused on the content longer and creates a sense of play that static designs rarely achieve.
But here’s the catch.
Full AMP-powered features are supported by only a few email clients, so the sweet spot is lightweight, fallback-friendly interactions, including hover effects, scratch-to-reveal discounts, carousels with product images, or simple quizzes that link to landing pages. These small touches can turn a routine promotional email into a moment people remember.
A practical example is Forever 21’s Black Friday campaign, which used a scratch card mechanic inside the email. Set against high-contrast blocks, the design encouraged readers to uncover their deal, making the promotion feel like a game.
If minimalism is about stripping away distractions, bold typography is about making sure what’s left truly stands out.
In modern email designs, type-driven layouts paired with clean grids are dominating the field. They don’t rely on heavy imagery or cluttered visuals, but use scale, weight, and alignment to guide the reader through the message.
This approach works especially well for brands that need to communicate quickly and confidently. A headline that takes up half the screen might feel aggressive in another context, but in an inbox full of tiny text and competing visuals, it’s refreshing. Pair that with a simple grid system — two or three clear blocks stacked or aligned — and you’ve got a design that’s both scannable and memorable.
We applied this method in our work with Refera. Their emails needed to highlight user actions clearly, so we leaned on a strong font combination to call out the key message, supported by essential metrics in card and table styles. The result was a design that felt structured, easy to scan, and worked seamlessly across devices.
Animations in email aren’t new, but in 2025, they’re evolving into something more subtle and refined. These are small movements — a button that gently pulses, a progress bar that fills, or an icon that shifts on hover — designed to guide attention.
For designers, the specifics matter. A GIF that weighs 1MB might not sound like much, but when most users open emails on mobile, heavy assets can slow loading times and eat into data. That’s why lightweight formats are becoming the tools of choice:
It’s also worth noting that micro-animations should feel like part of the interface. A fun hover effect on a CTA button can be more effective than a looping GIF banner, because it draws the eye exactly where you want it.
A good example is Adidas, which used subtle animation in its emails to showcase available product color options. Instead of cluttering the layout with multiple static photos, an animated sequence cycled through the variations. It looked clean, worked well on mobile devices, and gave users an immediate sense of choice.
Some eye-catching emails resemble mini landing pages more than traditional messages. Picture walls and visual grids are at the center of this shift. These designs stack images in structured grids — product shots, lifestyle photos, user-generated content — creating a visual narrative that can be scanned in seconds.
In design terms, that means balancing variety with order. Too many visuals without structure can feel chaotic, but a well-defined grid system (two, three, or four columns depending on the screen size) keeps things cohesive.
Responsive design is non-negotiable. Grids should collapse elegantly into single-column layouts on mobile, with spacing that preserves clarity instead of cramming images together. Consistent margins, alignment, and aspect ratios matter just as much as the images themselves.
A strong example comes from Airbnb’s campaigns, which often feature a grid of destination images. On the desktop environment, the layout feels expansive and immersive. On mobile, it collapses seamlessly into a single column that still feels balanced.
For years, marketing emails leaned heavily on sales-first messaging like discounts, urgency, and endless product pushes. Nowadays, email marketers replace that approach with emails that feel like they were written by a person.
This email marketing trend is about building trust and connection. Think simple thank-you notes, birthday greetings, or welcome series that introduce the brand in a conversational tone.
From the design side, the task is to support that human voice with a layout that feels personal. That often means plain or lightly branded templates, clear hierarchy, and restrained use of marketing imagery so the main message takes center stage.
A strong example comes from Duolingo’s emails. They use playful copy written in the brand’s quirky voice, paired with simple visuals of their green owl mascot. The design is light, almost chat-like, with plenty of breathing room and a friendly message.
Today, sustainability has become a design principle. Users scan your emails for offers, and, at the same time, pay attention to how your brand communicates values. And design plays a bigger role in that than most teams realize.
This trend has two sides: environmental sustainability and ethical communication. On the environmental side, lighter, more efficient emails matter. Heavy images and bloated code slow down load times and increase the carbon footprint of every email sent. Designing with compressed images, lean HTML, and avoiding unnecessary elements is becoming part of responsible practice.
On the ethical side, users are increasingly wary of dark patterns: deceptive unsubscribe links, manipulative countdown timers, or visuals that pressure them into purchases. A sustainable design respects the user’s time and attention. Clear typography, accessible contrast ratios, and transparent CTAs are expected.
A strong example is Patagonia’s email campaigns. The outdoor brand doesn’t push constant discounts, but highlights repair programs, second-hand collections, and sustainability initiatives. The design mirrors the message: uncluttered, authentic, and aligned with their identity as an environmentally responsible company.
Every year, some email marketing design trends fade for a reason. They don’t scale, they don’t work across devices, or they simply annoy people. What felt clever a few years ago now just clutters the inbox or pushes users away. Here are the design habits that 2025 is leaving behind.
Tables used to be the only way to structure emails, but they don’t translate well to a mobile-first world. Columns collapse unpredictably, spacing breaks, and the result feels clunky. With so many reliable frameworks available now, sticking with tables is less about “legacy” and more about ignoring how users read on their phones.
There’s a temptation to cover all bases: “Read more,” “Start now,” “See pricing.” In practice, people skip when they’re not sure where to click. Simpler layouts with one main action win. We’ve seen how one decisive call to action, supported by a strong visual hierarchy, consistently outperforms three buttons competing for attention.
And when the path is clear, it’s easier to build a personal connection with the reader because the message feels intentional rather than scattered.
Traditional stock photos have always been a shortcut, but today they break the narrative of authenticity that users expect. The polished, too-perfect look feels instantly generic. Real product shots or simple custom illustrations connect more honestly, and often need only minimal post-production editing to feel authentic.
Stock photography often looks overly polished because of all the editing, and instead of feeling premium, it ends up feeling generic.
What used to be treated as a “growth hack” now looks like a design failure. A buried or disguised unsubscribe frustrates users and pushes them toward the spam button. And that’s a design choice with deliverability consequences. Clean, branded opt-outs feel far more aligned with how thoughtful brands approach communication.
Countdown timers, fake urgency bars, and flashing sale banners tactics once grabbed attention, but now mostly irritate users. They can feel manipulative and undermine brand trust. If urgency is real, it should come through clean messaging and design elements, not a gimmicky clock ticking in the corner.
Some brands even throw in prices with nothing but just a dollar sign splashed across the design. Of course, it’s loud, but it doesn’t add clarity or value.
Screaming layouts that try to sell everything at once end up scaring users away. Just take a look at the example below: bold colors, stacked perks, and multiple CTA sentences all competing in the same frame. Instead of creating excitement, they create stress and make people want to close the tab.
Designing in a vacuum rarely works. The best email designers build swipe files — collections of layouts, campaigns, and small details worth borrowing. In 2025, the number of inspiration sources has exploded, but a few stand out for quality and consistency.
→ ReallyGoodEmails is probably the most famous library, updated constantly with fresh campaigns across industries. It’s perfect when you need to scan for broad trends or see how different brands solve the same problem.
→ Email Love is a curated archive with a strong focus on beautiful design details. Great when you’re designing flows like onboarding or seasonal promos and want something beyond the obvious.
→ Mailboard is loved by the community (Reddit threads mention it often) for its practical, easy-to-browse collections. Its clean categorization and easy browsing are especially handy when you’re under pressure to deliver.
→ Dribbble may not be email-specific, but it’s where designers share cutting-edge experiments with typography, grids, and interaction. It’s a good place to spot visual ideas before they filter into mainstream campaigns.
Beyond external libraries, the most effective designers build their own swipe systems. A simple Notion board, Figma file, or even a shared Google Drive folder can become a private archive. Save screenshots, tag them by type (promos, onboarding, re-engagement), and add quick notes on what stands out.
Over time, this personal vault becomes faster to navigate than any public library, because it’s tailored to your workflow.
Seeing all these latest email marketing trends at once can feel like standing in front of a blank Figma file with too many color swatches. The temptation is to try everything right away, but that’s usually how emails end up bloated, broken, or inconsistent.
Here’s how we recommend approaching it if you’re designing email campaigns:
1. Start small — one trend at a time. If you’re redesigning a template, pick one thing to improve first. For example, simplify the layout into a single-column structure (like we did with ShipAngel) before layering in micro-animations or dynamic content.
2. Design for failure states. Dark mode doesn’t render the same in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail. Scratch-off interactions don’t always load. Test your emails across clients before sending, and build fallbacks into your layouts.
3. Think modular. Most trends work better when you design flexible components that can be reused and swapped. Replace a rigid all-in-one template with a library of modules that can adapt across campaigns.
4. Keep the user’s context in focus. We know readers spend only 9–12 seconds scanning your email. Use that insight as your filter. If a trend doesn’t make the email clearer, faster, or more engaging in that timeframe, it’s probably not worth adding.
Be sure, one or two thoughtful changes per quarter will take you much further than a crowded email trying to follow every trend at once.
If the past few years were about catching up to mobile habits, the next wave of email design is about adapting in real time. The future points toward emails that don’t just look good in the inbox, but actually shift depending on who opens them, where they are, and what matters in that moment.
AI will play a larger role here. We can expect templates that rearrange blocks automatically, surfacing a product grid for one user and a single bold hero image for another, all within the same campaign. From the design perspective, this means building flexible systems that handle constant variation without breaking consistency.
Interactive elements are also likely to move into utility. Scratch cards or playful quizzes will be replaced with shopping experiences happening inside the email, without forcing the user into a browser. That requires designers to think like product people: every button, every animation, every fallback has to be as reliable as any feature in an app.
And then there’s the ethical dimension. In a world where users can spot dark patterns instantly, the most future-proof design choice is honesty. Brands that prioritize clarity, accessibility, and sustainability will have the advantage, not because it looks trendy, but because it feels trustworthy.
As we can predict, the future of email design won’t belong to the loudest campaigns or the flashiest animations. It will belong to the brands and designers who treat the inbox with respect, as a place where attention is scarce, trust is fragile, and design is the one thing standing between being ignored and being remembered.
Email design is never really “finished.” Every inbox you land in is a new test: different devices, different moods, different expectations. What feels bold today will feel ordinary tomorrow, and that’s the beauty of it. Good design keeps moving.
In this chase for trends, sharpen your eye for what actually helps someone on the other end. Sometimes it’s a minimalist layout that respects their time. Sometimes it’s a playful interaction that makes them smile. Sometimes it’s just a clear, honest message in a clean frame.
At TodayMade, we’ve seen that the best results come when design decisions are treated less like decoration and more like an email marketing strategy. That mindset is what turns an email from background noise into a moment that matters.
So the next time you open your own inbox, pay attention. Notice which emails you read, which you skip, and which you delete without a second thought. The patterns you find there are the best design lessons you’ll ever get.
