A standard, consistent, and clean email signature will present a more professional appearance for the college. The signature is designed to maximize contact information while promoting external websites to those who receive the messages. Email signatures should reflect a professional and consistent appearance for conducting college business through email.
The following are recommended guidelines for email signatures for faculty and staff for @potsdam.edu email accounts.
Less is more: Email signatures should not be longer than 10 lines. Go wider rather than longer, and use pipes (|) to separate components. Use two spaces between content and pipes.
Images and logos: Do not use images or logos within the email signature. Images can come across as attachments and appear chaotic. Many e-mail clients and mobile devices block the appearance of images. Images can also increase the size of email in-boxes exponentially. For those with in-box size limits, this can be problematic.
Quotes: Refraining from the use of quotes or epigraphs is best practice for professional communications. It is important to avoid the potential confusion of external audiences assuming a particular statement represents the college's official slogan, ideology, or brand promise.
Fonts: Use a simple 12-point standard font (preferred) or your email client’s default font. Non-standard typefaces and HTML may not translate well across email clients.
Rich text formatting: Use plain text so that the signature is compatible with all email clients and devices. Avoid colors, special fonts, bold, italics, and graphics.
vCards: While vCards can be a convenient way to share contact information for some (using a .VCF compatible email client), they add bytes and appear as attachments. It might be valuable to use a vCard for an initial correspondence, but sending it every time is redundant.
Standard Email Signature Format:
Name
Title
Office/Unit
Building/Room
SUNY Potsdam (appears on its own line)
44 Pierrepont Ave | Potsdam, NY 13676
Phone | Mobile phone (optional) | Fax (optional) [use hyphens to format numbers; include area codes]
Email address | Web address
An optional line to include your professional social network links is also acceptable on the last
line (see example below).
Sample Signatures:
John Smith
Associate Vice President
Office of Physical Plant
Raymond Hall 501
SUNY Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Ave. | Potsdam, NY 13676
315-267-2000 | 555-123-1234 mobile
smithjq@potsdam.edu | potsdam.edu
Follow us: facebook.com/sunypotsdam | twitter.com/sunypotsdam1816
Jennifer Smith
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Biology
Stowell Hall 123
SUNY Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Ave. | Potsdam, NY 13676
315-267-2000 | 555-123-1234 mobile
smithjq@potsdam.edu | potsdam.edu
[Some content provided by and used with permission from Ithaca College.]