I thought I had found a good email example of « less is more« . A newsletter design from ArtStation that spoke to me for its simplicity and clarity. But it's far from flawless...
The good
What I like is the design. It's clear, uncluttered and unadorned. A few easily identifiable content blocks, clear, contrasting buttons. Everything is legible, even if the typography could have been a little bigger.
A newsletter template that presents its content without frills. A newsletter that I want to like and that I had chosen as a good example. Yes, but...
The bad
When you scratch the surface of this sleek design, there's a lot wrong with it. Particularly when it comes to accessibility. No role="presentation" on the <table>, no alternative text on all images (even those containing text), and color contrasts too low to pass accessibility tests.
A quick reminder of best practices with our guide to the subject.
The ugly
And when you check the rendering in email clients, well...
Outlook breaks. This is due to the presence of tags such as to create lists.
Link underlining behavior is not defined, so depending on the email client, links may or may not be underlined.
It wouldn't take much to improve it, though: All the points mentioned can be fixed quite easily, and it would take this email from «it's so simple and yet so badly done...» to «it's uncluttered and effective. Top!»
Just goes to show, even with a basic design, there's still room for error.
To avoid this kind of problem, you need to either have a competent person create your HTML files, or use an email builder that takes accessibility into account. To name just one: ThePatron 😉