Email Signatures Best Practices At The University Of Calgary
ADVERTISEMENT
1
2Email Signatures
Best practices at the University of Calgary
Your email signature is the information that is automatically (or at your prompt) inserted at the bottom of every email
you send. Consider it an electronic business card that includes the information required for your correspondent to
contact or find you on campus.
How you set up your email signature will depend on the email program that you use. Following email signature best
practices during the set-up process can help ensure that all university email meets professional standards, represents
the quality of your work and the university’s teaching and research, and provides relevant information to support the
university’s business processes.
Guidelines
Guidelines to consider when creating your university email signature are as follows:
Font/Typeface: Some fonts are easier to read than others. Simple system fonts like Calibri, Arial, and Verdana are
script and cursive fonts
easier to read on screens than more complex
. Using an obscure font may also result in
automatic replacement of your typeface choice by the receiving email system.
Font colour: Black type is the most legible and recommended text colour for your signature. Darker gray shades are
also acceptable.
Background colour: Please avoid use of background colour on your emails. Not only does it cause legibility
limitations and high levels of ink usage when emails are printed, but it also forces your recipient to deal with the
same colour palette when they respond to you.
Images/logo graphics: Please use a text-based email signature wherever possible. Why? Different email clients
process images in different ways. Although it is tempting to make your email signature visually rich, including an
image/logo, or making your entire signature an image carries the risk that a recipient either does not receive the
image or that they receive the image as a file attachment (which may or may not be quarantined on arrival). Images
may also hinder email delivery performance and increase overall email storage quotas when compounded. The
same thinking applies to unique bullet styles; these may get automatically replaced during transmission and receipt.
Concluding statement: Please consider including the following statement about the university’s strategic direction.
The University of Calgary is a leading Canadian university located in the nation's most enterprising city. The
university has a clear strategic direction to become one of Canada's top five research universities by 2016, where
research and innovative teaching go hand in hand, and where we fully engage the communities we both serve and
lead. This strategy is called Eyes High, inspired by the university's Gaelic motto, which translates as 'I will lift up my
eyes.’ For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.
Other information: Any other information you might include in your signature can lengthen your signature (and
your email), making it more difficult to process and/or print, and may distract from the professionalism and clarity of
your email. For example, an email signature is not the place to share personal philosophies, politics or belief
systems. It is also not a place for personal email addresses or web sites. You may choose to include a Skype address,
Twitter handle, or blog address, if they reflect your work or scholarly communications preferences.
last updated by Kim Lawrence, University Relations
December 2012
ADVERTISEMENT
0 votes
Related Articles
Related forms
Related Categories
Parent category: Business