Fresh

I’m a subscriber to Ancestry.com. It’s a paid subscription site that focuses on genealogy, family trees, history etc. They have a really well designed website, with amazing functionality and resources; but that isn’t what I want to show you. They do a killer job on the design of their email. Every time I get one of their messages, I am delighted by the level of attention to detail, design consistency and engaging content.

Most of the visual elements are borrowed from the site design, which makes a seamless experience. What is so impressive to me is that the design speaks to history and things that are old; yet the emails have a clean, modern, relevant look.

The pairing of browns and greens works well for the palette. It mirrors that old/new idea. The sepia tone or black and white photography is always beautiful and touching. The typography is well-loved. The design employs plenty of white space which helps to achieve the modern, clean feel. Nice.

Details that I am especially fond of:

• the ornaments used: check out how they are used in the the “we’re here to help” area above
• the rules: the double rules that are used to divide sections, as well as the outlines around color fields

The only beef I have with the design is that some of the drop shadows do seem a bit heavy handed (see for instance the shadow on the book under “Save $50″ in the uppermost email). But overall, I think the design is well executed.

Even the “simple emails” that could have been text-only are well planned and easy on the eyes:

Well done Ancestry.com, well done.