Taking a purely aesthetic approach to viewing html email is something I’ve been doing for years. Much like with a webpage, it usually takes me all of a split-second to visually diagnose a potential “unwanted” in my inbox and quickly mark it for deletion. I prefer my eyes to any imperfect spam filtering application.

According to a recent study published in the journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, Canadian researchers found that it takes a mere 20th of a second to visually diagnose a webpage. In one blink of the eye, volunteers in the study were able to give positive or negative ratings on several web pages. Their results were shockingly close to opinions made after much longer examinations of the same pages.

This study can relatively be applied to email. After all, an html email is basically a mini webpage in your inbox. A well-designed email will reinforce its message. Researchers suggest a “halo effect” is created by this visual impression. If people feel positive about the design, they are going feel positive about the content of the email. They go hand-in-hand.

There are a few key design items that I look for after opening an html email. Here is a breakdown of my quick diagnosis.

The Logo
A logo speaks volumes about a company. It is the core branding feature that defines a company’s image. If the logo looks sloppy or thrown together, chances are that the company is as well. If the html email doesn’t contain a logo, it’s probably not worth reading. It should be clean and well positioned at the top of the page.

The Layout
This can vary greatly and I’m not one to put a uniform on a layout. But the general arrangement should be as follows. The most important content on top (logo, header graphic, headline), followed by the body (main copy), and ending with the footer (company address, unsubscribe feature, disclaimers). These page elements should “flow” working together to deliver the email’s content.

The Colors
Everyone has their favorite colors, so I’m not going to say what should and should not be used. I tend to stay away from fluorescents and colors that don’t match the subject matter. For example, I’m not going to take legal advice from an orange and yellow email, but I may check out a vacation package with those same colors.

The Content
The body of the email should be easy to read and positioned neatly under the headlines. Often I see body copy jumping around graphics and typed in a font that I need a decoder to read. And for me, the body copy shouldn’t be too long. I don’t want to read a small novel in my inbox. Maybe an enticing paragraph or two and let me click through to the company’s website to read the rest of the story.

In conclusion, you don’t have to be a creative director or a web designer to know what a good email looks like. Just be trusting of that initial design perception. Nine times out of ten it will set the tone for the rest of the content.