{"id":17645,"date":"2020-06-18T15:30:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=17645"},"modified":"2025-04-08T17:02:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T21:02:18","slug":"trending-in-email-design-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/trending-in-email-design-photography","title":{"rendered":"Trending in Email Design: Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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Each year, we see new email design trends<\/a> shaping digital marketing\u2014from the use of color and imagery to typography trends, interactivity, and more. In our \u201cTrending in Email Design\u201d<\/i> series, we look at the hottest digital design trends and dive into how they translate into email marketing.<\/p>\n

In 2019, custom illustration<\/a> was the hottest trend across many areas of design, including email. Brands were able to bring their unique identity to life and show complex concepts, but as this trend has been leveraged to create more and more visual content for email, creative use of photography is gaining momentum to form a counter trend.<\/p>\n

As photography can be expensive and time consuming to produce, designers are often encouraged to leverage stock imagery. The risk here is that using imagery available to everyone, at a small price, can lead to generic and unengaging designs that are unlikely to capture your audience\u2019s imagination and drive results.<\/p>\n

\u201cA reliance on stock imagery can run the risk of a competing company using the same images as you, which could negatively impact trust in your product or service\u2014and harm the unique quality of your brand.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Source: Venngage<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are so many creative ways to use photography as visual content. Even a popular stock image can be transformed into an exciting visual that supports your content and reflects your brand\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

Take a look at how these brands breathe life into photography with exciting compositions and Photoshop trickery.<\/p>\n

Tasteful treatments and filters<\/h2>\n

One of the most simple ways to stylize an image is to add a layer filter. This can be achieved in Photoshop by creating two layers: The top layer should contain your image with a color layer below it. On the photo layer, select a filter from the dropdown in the layers panel.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a great way to apply your brand colors to stock imagery and give it a little flair. Whatever you add to the bottom layer\u2014whether it\u2019s a flat color, gradient, or pattern\u2014will be merged with your photo.<\/p>\n

Unicef<\/a><\/strong> shows just how impactful this quick treatment can be when used in an email campaign.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can easily make images pop by adjusting the saturation levels, like Calm<\/a><\/strong> does in this beautiful email:<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

This Mother\u2019s Day campaign from UK retailer John Lewis<\/a><\/strong> uses layers and overlays. They opted for a pastel palette to bring unity to their product photography.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h2>\n

Remove the clutter with a cut and a slice<\/h2>\n

It isn\u2019t all about layering on top of existing stock imagery\u2014it\u2019s about chopping it up for your needs, too! Cutting out elements and creating new compositions breathes life into photography. It\u2019s possible to purchase stock imagery that sits on a white background, but these images often feel overly staged. Imagery with cluttered backgrounds or other details that don\u2019t fit with your brand voice if you used them as-is often offer the most natural and believable pieces when cut out and suited to your purpose.<\/p>\n

A Kids Book About<\/a><\/strong> uses ample amounts of negative space with their image placed on a flat color background, drawing your eye to the girl and the book she\u2019s holding, the natural focal point of the hero image.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Smile Direct Club<\/a><\/strong> adopts a similar approach\u2014but instead of a flat color behind their subject, they opted for a gradient and pattern to add depth to this hero area.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Getting creative with your cut outs isn\u2019t all about the perfect extraction\u2014you can be \u201ccrude\u201d in your approach and create a cut-and-stick style that evokes scrapbooking, just like handmade dinnerware retailer East Fork<\/a> <\/strong>does in this example:<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Market research and insight company Mintel<\/a><\/strong> shows just how creative you can be when you bring photographic elements together, like they did in this photo montage background.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h2>\n

Switch perspectives and get 3D with new, unexpected angles<\/h2>\n

During the image selection process, it\u2019s worth considering perspective. Choosing interesting angles can make your photographic content appear three-dimensional, and help your subscribers really dive in and get something new out of the imagery.<\/p>\n

Nike<\/a><\/strong> creates a dynamic experience with this hard-to-ignore hero image. The use of perspective makes the subject matter jump off the screen\u2014and with visual content complemented by bold typography<\/a> and clear calls-to-action this email is a slam dunk.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On<\/a><\/strong> has carefully thought out the perspective and composition of their photography in this email, drawing attention to multiple variations\u2014presented in different angles\u2014of a single product.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

Creative compositions: Going off-grid or using shapes<\/h2>\n

Considering the placement of imagery within your composition is another way to help captivate your audience. Using off-grid<\/a> techniques or including organic<\/a> or geometric<\/a> shapes are both proving to be popular ways to make photography all the more engaging.<\/p>\n

Photography and film equipment retailer Moment<\/a> <\/strong>uses off-grid techniques to place photography and written content within this well-considered reader journey. The unpredictability of abstract layouts can be considerably impactful and help guide readers through long form email campaigns.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The off-center hero image in this GoDaddy<\/a><\/strong> email incorporates organic shapes and patterns. This draws the eye, bringing a pop and an area of interest to this clean, clutter-free design.<\/p>\n

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Source: Really Good Emails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n \t\t<\/div>\n \t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take a look at and get inspired by how these brands breathe life into photography with exciting compositions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[478,1173,9805],"blog_category":[78],"class_list":["post-17645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-design","tag-email-marketing-trends","tag-text","blog_category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nTrending in Email Design: Photography - Litmus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Take a look at and get inspired by how these brands breathe life into photography with exciting compositions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/trending-in-email-design-photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trending in Email Design: Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Take a look at and get inspired by how these brands breathe life into photography with exciting compositions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/trending-in-email-design-photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Litmus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-18T15:30:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-08T21:02:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Trending-Photography.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trending in Email Design: Photography - 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