5 Fashion-Inspired Color Palettes for Your Summer Email Marketing Campaigns

If you are anything like me, you have been closely following the summer fashion trends and taking copious notes.

What is hot this summer, and what are the biggest names in fashion wearing this season? It is an especially exciting time in the fashion industry, as constant disruption and turnover seem to be sweeping it.

According to the Pantone Color Institute(opens in new tab), a trend forecaster and consultancy, as the color becomes increasingly important, designers are responding by featuring more shades in their collections. Vibrant and bold hues, new neutrals, and more pastels define the latest summer trends.

At this point, you may be wondering how fashion trends relate to your email marketing campaign.

Let me explain: as a marketer, you should always look for ways to sustain and increase your competitive position.

To do that, you need to stay on top of trends, and what better place to look for what is trending than the runway? Fashion trends can always give you a clue as to what is popular at the moment, and this summer, the runway has inspired some great looks.

According to a 2015 study by Microsoft(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab), the average consumer’s attention span has dropped to 8 seconds. Considering that, on average, a reader spends about eight seconds on an email once opened. Given that small window of time, it is your job to capture your reader’s attention with all the tools at your disposal.

Initially, visual elements such as design, imagery, and, of course, color will capture your reader’s attention. More often than not, the color combination is the deciding factor in whether your reader engages with your content or loses interest and bounces.

Understanding how colors affect one’s disposition towards your content is crucial to the success of your email marketing strategy.
With hot summer days upon us, warmer tones, brighter hues, and more color are popular. This season offers a great opportunity to introduce bold colors to your email designs with a summer-inspired palette.

To make your brand more relevant and visible, I have prepared five fashion-inspired color palettes to bring summery vibes to your next email marketing campaign(opens in new tab).

Tropical Rhythms

When I think summer, I think vacation, preferably on a bright sunny beach in an exotic location. Palm trees swaying to a light breeze and ocean waves dancing to a tropical rhythm.

To capture this carefree ambiance, tropical hues and patterns have made their way onto the runway and become one of the hottest Spring/Summer 2018 print trends (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab). Leading designers, including Fenty Puma, Michael Kors, Coach, and Gucci, artfully decorated their garments with tropical motifs such as palm leaves, pineapples, and hibiscus flowers.
Inspired by this trend, I have created the ultimate tropical palette to bring a summer vibe to your next email campaign. The palette is bright and friendly, with abundant color variation and contrast. The most prominent hues include tangerine orange, palm green, dazzling pink, ocean blue, and sunny yellow. To ensure the combination of bright, saturated hues is not too overpowering, pair this scheme with a deep tan or a neutral beige. This palette is ideal for adding a fresh, summery tone to your newsletter designs.

Candy Sweet Pastels

Anything with an ice cream hue is sweet for Spring/Summer 2018(opens in new tab).

A slew of delicate pastels came down Spring/Summer 2018 runways Victoria Beckham, Hermes, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace included. Challenging the increasing popularity of millennial pink, soft shades of lavender and mint have become the ‘it’ colors this summer. Pastel shades are the happier, lighter version of their original color and their simplicity will allow you to style them with other colors and prints.

Pastel colors allow for other prominent elements such as text and action buttons to stand out in the foreground, while still providing a warm and cheery presence to the viewer. Choose from a variety of pastel pinks, yellows, mint, blue and lavender. One thing to keep in mind is, if not combined with the appropriate elements and colors, pastels can appear bland and unexciting. Be sure to accommodate a brighter accent color or an interesting font when opting for a pastel palette.

Less is More Monochromatic

Monochromatic(opens in new tab) is this season’s most dominant color trend.

This color scheme features one hue in a variety of tones. Even though this color palette may lack contrast, it provides a clean and polished design. From Victoria Beckham’s ice-cream pastels to Max Mara’s neutrals and Rihanna’s Fenty x Puma eye-popping oranges, the Spring/Summer 2018 runways were a masterclass in how to work the look.

For this color palette, I chose orange to create a versatile spectrum with color options for every part of your design. Working with this single color palette will help you create a warm and exciting feeling. Bring the reader’s attention to your text by choosing an accent color; when in doubt, always turn to the classic black or white as your font color. And if you are feeling adventurous, you can try combining your monochromatic design with the previously mentioned color trends. Choose this brand color palette(opens in new tab) to bring cohesiveness and simplicity to a busy design.

Bold Pigments & Neon Brights

Summer is the season of bright shades, fluorescent colors, and saturated hues.

From Tom Ford to Calvin Klein and Kenzo(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab), designers are going all out with bright, bold designs. A rainbow of colors in their brightest varieties are sure to bring that warm summer style to your email designs as well.

As we have seen so far, Summer 2018 is the season of experimenting with color. To stand out from your competitors, use bright and bold colors. Dare to use neons and bright pigments. You don’t need to rethink the entirety of your brand’s color palette to introduce some bold pigments to your design. Instead, pick a few colors as your ‘unofficial brand colors’ and use them for all your summer email campaigns. This will help you bring some excitement and novelty to your newsletter while adhering to your brand’s core identity. For this color palette, I have selected vibrant pinks, blues, ultraviolets, and yellows artfully spiced together!

What’s Old is New Again: 90s

Eye-popping colors such as coral, hot pink, and neon are the highlights of the 90s. Nostalgic retro design is having a comeback this summer more than ever before. Designer brands like Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, and Fila are paying homage to the popular retro 90s trend. In incorporating retro elements into their designs, designers have brought seemingly outdated colors back into the public eye, inspiring an unusual and exciting color palette.

This summer, opt for bolder colors in unusual combinations. Vibrant colors communicate energy, excitement, and optimism, which make up the perfect ingredients to set the right mood and grab your reader’s attention. This color scheme features bright purple, opposite shades of blue, neon green, pink, and yellow. Integrating this colorful palette with funky patterns and black outlines is sure to invoke the classic 90s aesthetic.

The primary force driving this season’s fashion trends is designers’ rebellion against plain, basic color schemes.

Today, designers are daring to explore new combinations of hues and pigments, and the result is an innovative, beautiful explosion of colors! Some of the most successful companies know the compelling reasons to prioritize design, and color, in particular, to increase the odds of success.

Choosing the right color palette can help you make a meaningful first impression, enhance brand awareness, and help you stand out from your competitors. However, don’t forget to align creativity and strategy. When selecting a color scheme for your next email campaign, always consider how it aligns with your brand. Whether you integrate any of these trends should be based on careful analysis and consideration.