Reasons Why Retro Designs in Email Are a Total Hit ❤️‍🔥

Reasons Why Retro Designs in Email Are a Total Hit ❤️‍🔥

September 18, 2023   —  Comments

Rida Ali Khan

Rida Ali Khan

Ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and wondered why all the artists, designers, and influencers are obsessed with the retro and vintage themes? 🎙️☎️🖼️

Well, that’s because their vibe is unmatched, and they look smoking hot! 

So, if you're someone whose motto is to impress his/her clients and customers, try incorporating retro designs in emails and witness how these designs leave your readers awestruck. 

Interested to know more about this? 

Then grab a chair and sit back because we’re about to tell you the secret sauce for creating the coolest retro and vintage designs in email ever. 

For starters, let’s discuss the reason behind retro design’s comeback. 

Why Are Retro Designs Making a Comeback? 

Retro designs are basically designs that use themes, trends, and elements from the past. 

They can be created by modifying an old classic or taking inspiration from one. 

If you get into understanding consumer psychology or the psychology of humans in general, you will figure out one thing for sure, i.e., people love to be related to the past. 

Mean girls' reference to vintage/retro designs and themes.

It’s either the sense of belonging or a feeling of amusement, but people love to see a reflection of the past in things. And that’s exactly what you can offer them by creating retro designs in emails. 

Many of us obsessed with retro designs have not even used vinyl or videotapes, but the whole look is so aesthetically pleasing and wholesome that people love it and want to embrace it. 

Now that you know retro designs and vintage themes have become everyone’s go-to strategy to become everyone’s favorite, let’s dig into the technicalities. That is, tips for creating retro designs.

Tips to Create Swoon-Worthy Retro Designs in Email

Design elements to include in your retro-themed emails.

Designing a retro design is all fun and games until you realize there’s a lot of competition to make yours stand out. 

But no need to worry. You can still ace it by incorporating the design tips listed below:

Color palette

Secondary colors like baby pink, purple, teal, orange, tangerine, mint, mustard, earthy tones, and navy blue are almost always present in retro-themed designs. They give a very old-fashioned and vintage look to your designs. 

So, try to choose a color palette with these shades. Also, avoid using primary colors like red and bright yellow. 

In case you’re having a hard time picking the right colors, go through an old photo album or videotape that’ll help you choose the colors you need to add.

Design elements 

If you want your email recipients to relive the past with just one look at your email, include design elements such as telephone sets, newspapers, vinyl, an old radio or television device, or scrapbooks. 

These vintage items were used by people in the past and can be recreated in the form of vector images in your retro-themed email. 

Fonts styles 

Email’s font is another thing that you need to pay special attention to. 

Choose fonts like Old Standard, Lovadelic, Barbra, Tan Twinkle, etc., that go with the past styles of advertisements. 

When selecting a font, think about the intent and theme of the email and message and then choose it. For instance, a certain font might be a hit in the 50’s while another must be popular in the 60’s. 

Patterns and shapes

Besides these, you must also consider the right shapes and patterns to add to your retro-themed email. 

The patterns or shapes you choose might be according to the year you want to reflect in the email or design. For instance, if you’re creating an email with a 50s theme, use geometrical shapes and polka dot patterns. 

On the other hand, if you want to design something related to the 60’s theme, you can add monochromatic patterns and pop art. 

Relatable images 

Embedding old-fashioned images in email is the easiest and most impressive way to demonstrate vintage or retro design in emails. You can use an old photo and modify it to give your own unique touch and make it more relatable to your email or brand. 

Feel inspired to send retro-themed emails to your readers? 

Use the following responsive and eye-catching retro-inspired email templates from Unlayer and make your recipients fall in love with your emails.  

Unlayer’s Retro-Themed Email Templates - All Set to Catch Eyeballs

Why build a retro-inspired email template from scratch when you can just leverage one from Unlayer’s library of 1500+ responsive and pre-designed email templates

Easy and fruitful. 

We even handpicked the best ones for you. Have a look!

Template 1

Want to promote your trendy clothing store along with its fashionable and chic items? Then use our retro-themed email template and entice people to shop with you. 

Get this template.

Template 2

About to hold a promotional sale on your vintage-themed items? We have the perfect template for your vintage/retro-themed promotional email

Get this template.

Template 3

Introduced a retro-inspired clothing line? Then, a retro design in email is ideal for reinforcing your message, just like the one below. 

You can even modify its color palette or items to sync with your brand. 

Retro designed email template from Unlayer.

Get this template.

When it comes to offering trendy email designs, Unlayer leaves no stone unturned to satisfy email marketers with its impressive designs. And these retro designs in email are designed perfectly to take your email game to the next level. 

Now in case you’re planning to build one from scratch, here are some amazing retro email designs to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing.  

3 Amazing Retro Designs in Emails That’ll Inspire You

We came across some inspirational email designs that we’d love to share with you. So, have a look at the following and create your own masterpiece. 

RTRO 

Example of retro-themed email from RTRO. 

Why do we love it? 

The whole email looks like it came straight out from the 80’s. Everything about it, from the image to the colors, reflects a vintage theme at its finest. 

The coolest part about this email is that it accurately demonstrates RTRO’s brand theme as well. 

Trendy and minimalist, RTRO decided to offer the best of both worlds with this email. 

True Grit Texture Supply

Example of retro-themed email from True Grit Texture Supply. 

Why do we love it? 

We couldn’t help but admire this amazing color palette. Just a look at this email template is enough to give you a glimpse of the posters and advertisements of the past. 

Also, it is amazing how well they blended the brand’s accessories with the retro theme. 

Great Jones 

Example of retro-themed email from Great Jones. 

Why do we love it? 

Great Jone’s retro-themed email does not just deserve applause because of how visually appealing it is but also for how effortless it is. 

The cartoon animation and font style take you back to the 50’s. Simple yet amazing. 

Aren’t these amazing? Then, design your one-of-a-kind retro email with Unlayer. 

Final Thoughts

Vintage and retro designs in email are a failsafe solution to impress your email recipients. The above-mentioned tips and tricks will help you design a top-notch one. 

Just keep your brand theme and message in sync with your design, and you’re golden.

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