How to Use Lino Printing to Add Handmade Artistic Elements to Your Email Marketing Designs

Email marketing has become increasingly polished and automated, but this rise in efficiency has also led to a wave of visual sameness. Most newsletters lean heavily on templates, stock icons, and predictable layouts, meaning genuinely memorable emails are harder to come by. One emerging solution is to combine traditional craft with digital design. Lino printing offers a tactile, organic aesthetic that can transform the look and feel of email campaigns, giving them depth, personality, and a handcrafted edge that resonates with modern audiences.

Many brands are now incorporating hand-printed textures into their newsletters, often carving simple motifs using specialist lino cutting tools for printmaking to create headers, separators, and decorative icons that stand out in crowded inboxes.

This guide explores how lino printing can be used to enhance email layouts, elevate brand identity, and capture subscribers’ attention. You’ll learn practical techniques, creative applications, and the wider marketing benefits of integrating printmaking into your digital communications.

Why Handmade Visuals Matter in Email Marketing

Consumers are saturated with digital content. According to HubSpot’s research, engagement rates continue to decline when visuals feel repetitive or overly templated. Handmade artwork stands out precisely because of its imperfections. It signals personality, authenticity, and care, which are increasingly valuable in a competitive inbox environment.

Hand-printed graphics also align with rising trends in brand storytelling. Many brands now embrace tactile elements in their design language, taking inspiration from craft movements, slow living culture, and analogue processes that evoke trust. Lino printing is particularly well suited to this renaissance because it offers crisp shapes, bold textures, and endlessly customisable patterns.

For more general direction on design principles, Google’s SEO Starter Guide also highlights the importance of crafting visually distinctive, user-first content, which applies equally to email design.

How Lino Printing Works

Lino printing (or linocut printing) is a relief printmaking process where designs are carved into linoleum blocks, inked, and pressed onto paper. The recessed areas remain blank, while the raised surfaces transfer ink to create bold, high contrast artwork.

The technique is simple enough for beginners yet versatile enough for professional designers. It can be used to create motifs, borders, icons, textures, dividers, and entire illustrations for your email templates.

Benefits of Using Lino Printing in Email Marketing

1. Aesthetic Differentiation

Lino-printed graphics have a tactile visual texture that digital tools struggle to replicate. This gives your newsletters a distinctive look that immediately sets them apart.6dbab2cb53e8ab30651768e80c5b8e19

2. Enhanced Brand Personality

Handmade elements communicate craft, care, and a sense of artistry. They work especially well for creative industries, lifestyle brands, artisan makers, or businesses that want a more human tone.

3. Content Storytelling Opportunities

You can show behind-the-scenes images, printmaking videos, or process photos, giving subscribers a glimpse into your creative world.

4. Versatile Visual Assets

Once scanned, lino prints can be:

• used as hero banners

• turned into repeating background patterns

• incorporated as icons or bullets

• applied as decorative borders

• reused across social media, packaging, and websites

5. Improved Engagement

Distinctive visual identity often correlates with higher click-through and open rates. Paired with consistent branding, handmade graphics can help reinforce recognition.

Challenges to Consider

1. Time Investment

Carving and printing take longer than generating digital icons. The extra effort, however, pays off in uniqueness.

2. Scanning and Digitising

You’ll need a scanner or a good camera setup to digitise prints cleanly.

3. Consistency Across Campaigns

To maintain a cohesive brand feel, you’ll want to create a suite of assets rather than one-off graphics.

4. Colour Limitations

Traditional lino prints are often monochrome, although you can experiment with multiple layers. Digital colouring is also an option once the print is scanned.

How to Incorporate Lino Printing into Email Designs

Step 1: Plan Your Visual Language

Think about:

• your brand tone

• the shapes or motifs that reflect your identity

• where handmade texture would add value in your email layout

Common design elements include:

• logo embellishments

• section dividers

• call-to-action accents

• textured backgrounds

• seasonal motifs

Step 2: Create the Artwork

You’ll need:

• linoleum blocks

• carving tools

• a roller (brayer)

• block printing ink

• paper for proof prints

Keep designs simple. Clean shapes translate best into digital assets.

Step 3: Print and Scan

Print your motif several times until you get the cleanest result. Then:

• scan at 600–1200 DPI

• photograph if you don’t have a scanner, ensuring good lighting

• save as TIFF or PNG for maximum quality

Step 4: Edit Digitally

Use software such as:

• Adobe Photoshop

• Affinity Photo

• GIMP

Tasks include:

• cleaning edges

• adjusting contrast

• removing paper background

• isolating areas of texture

• converting to transparent assets

Step 5: Optimise for Email

Email design requires lightweight images. Reduce file size while maintaining texture:

• compress using tools like TinyPNG

• export in PNG or WebP

• keep most images under 200 KB

Step 6: Upload to Your Email Platform

Platforms like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and Campaign Monitor support image uploads and custom templates. Use your lino textures to replace stock separators or icons.

Step 7: Test Across Devices

Always check how imagery appears on:

• desktop

• mobile

• dark mode

• various email clients

Subtle textures may appear differently across platforms, so test and adjust accordingly.

Creative Ideas for Lino Print Email Elements

1. Seasonal Headers

Carve festive shapes such as holly, stars, trees, or simple snowflake patterns for Christmas campaigns.

2. Textured Background Panels

A soft rolling-ink texture can make an email instantly more tactile. Keep the opacity low to avoid overpowering text.

3. Hand-Printed Icons

Create small stamps for:

• social icons

• bullet points

• arrow motifs

• CTA embellishments

4. Borders and Dividers

Horizontal linocut dividers work beautifully between sections in long newsletters.

5. Patterned CTA Buttons

Digitally overlay backgrounds with lino-printed patterns to distinguish high-value buttons.

6. Artist Storytelling Blocks

Feature a small behind-the-scenes snapshot section that shows the carving or printing process.

Best Practices for Blending Handmade Art With Digital Email Templates

Keep Colour Simple

Monochrome or duotone lino prints tend to reproduce best in email environments.

Maintain Strong Contrast

Subtle prints can fade when compressed, so start with crisp, bold shapes.

Create a Reusable Asset Library

Build a folder of:

• icons

• dividers

• texture blocks

• seasonal motifs

• background tiles

This allows consistent branding across future campaigns.

Don’t Neglect Alt Text

For accessibility and SEO, always include concise alt text descriptions such as:
“Hand-printed linocut leaf motif used as an email header texture.”

Use Handmade Art Sparingly

Balance crafted elements with clean typography to avoid overwhelming your layout.

Step-by-Step Example: Creating a Lino Printed Email Header

1. Sketch a simple motif such as waves, leaves, stars, or geometric lines.

2. Carve the design into a small A6 or A5 lino block.

3. Ink and print several impressions using quality printmaking ink.

4. Choose the cleanest print and scan it at high resolution.

5. Remove the paper background digitally and adjust levels to intensify the black areas.

6. Scale and crop to header proportions.

7. Save in PNG with transparency.

8. Upload to your email platform and place it at the top of your template.

This produces a visually striking header that instantly signals originality and attention to craft.

FAQs

1. Do lino-printed graphics work well on mobile email displays?

Yes. As long as images are optimised and not too detailed, lino prints render cleanly on mobile. Keep designs bold and test across several devices.

2. Can I colour my lino prints digitally?

Absolutely. You can add colour overlays, gradients, or selective colour fills in Photoshop or Affinity Photo.

3. What is the best resolution for scanning lino prints?

Aim for 600 DPI or higher to capture the fine texture of the ink and the grain of the print.

4. Will using more images slow down email loading?

Potentially. Always compress your final files to keep the email lightweight. Tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim help reduce size without losing texture.

5. Can small businesses use lino printing even without artistic experience?

Yes. Lino printing is beginner friendly and ideal for simple motifs, icons, and dividers. Even rough prints can add charm to an email.

Conclusion

Lino printing offers a powerful way to bring handcrafted warmth and individuality into your email marketing. From textured backgrounds to hand-carved icons, these analogue elements cut through the digital noise and help your brand stand out in the inbox. With a bit of carving, scanning, and digital editing, you can create a memorable visual style that your subscribers will immediately recognise.

If you're ready to experiment with handmade textures, consider starting with a few simple motifs and gradually building a brand-wide suite of assets. Your email campaigns will feel more distinctive, more approachable, and far more engaging as a result.

If you need specialist tools to begin creating your own lino-printed visuals, explore high quality equipment such as lino cutting tools, carving sets, rollers, and inks to get started.