Email Signatures

An email signature is your digital business card. It's important to present your email signature in a professional and unified manner, just as you would with your traditional printed business card.

What to Include in Your Email Signature

Be sure to include your updated signature on your Microsoft Outlook and Office 365 accounts.

How to Format Your Signature

Name Section

Color: Black

Format: Bold

Size: 10 pt or the same size as the body content. Do not exceed 12 pts.

Title and Contact Information Section

Color: Black or a deep gray
Gray helps separate text from the name.

Format: Regular

Size: 9 pt or one point size smaller than the name.

Breaks: Name/title, location, phone, and digital information should be defined by minor breaks so related content can be located easily.

Color

Do not use colors outside of black or gray. Using color does not create a consistent signature across various email systems.

Confidentiality Disclaimer and Other Disclaimers

Please include confidentiality and other types of disclaimers when necessary based on position and department needs. Disclaimers used by multiple individuals in one area or unit should be consistent from signature to signature.

Disclaimers recommendations:

• Location —a few line returns under your email signature
• Size — a point size or two smaller than the body copy of an email
• Color — black or dark gray

Email and Web Addresses

Underline: Email and web addresses should be hyperlinked and underlined.

Capitalize UND: Capitalize all occurrences of UND in an email address and before the backslash (/) of a web address. Example: UND.example@UND.edu

Color: If possible, change default blue links to an acceptable color, such as black or deep gray.

Font

Outlook users: Calibri (default)
Non-Outlook users: Calibri (If calibri is not available, use arial or basic sans-serif font.)

Do not use scripts or novelty fonts.

Labels

Single, capitalized letters are used to label contact information.

Phone: P
Office Phone: O
Direct Phone: D
Cellphone: C
Fax: F
Email: E (optional)
Website: W (optional)

If only one phone number is listed, P can be used or the label can be eliminated. If you think the single letters will be confusing, you may spell out the labels.

Logos and Graphics

Do not include a UND logo or insert other images or graphics, like pictures in an email signature or as backgrounds for an entire message.

Images and graphics are commonly blocked for security reasons, add size to your email messages, do not display correctly in all email systems, and are often included as attachments (which people may be hesitant to open).

Due to these issues, it's best practice to keep signatures in text format. Therefore, the University should be identified by writing out "University of North Dakota" instead of using the logotype.

Reply Message Signature

Reply email signatures can be automated in Microsoft Outlook. A simplified reply signature can be developed following the original signature format, but reducing content to the following required information:

• Name
• Phone number(s)
• University of North Dakota

Social Media

UND social media accounts can be promoted in email signatures. To list social media accounts write out the site's name and hyperlink the text directly to the UND account. Do not include icons for social media sites.

Taglines and Quotes

If a college or department would like to add an official tagline or motto after the email signature, all members of the unit should use it to maintain branding and consistency for that area.

Personal quotes and inspirational sayings should not be included in official UND signatures.

Titles and Departments - Ampersand (&)

For the sake of consistency, any UND unit or title with "and" in its name is encouraged to use the ampersand (&) in place of "and" in all instances.

Gender Pronouns

Including pronouns in our signature is a personal way in which people refer to us, just like our name. Using a person's pronouns correctly is a form of respect and courtesy as the experience of being misgendered is hurtful and embarrassing for everyone involved. Because gender is internal, a person may not identify along the binary of either male or female (e.g.: "him" or "her"), but rather prefer a gender-neutral pronoun — they/them/theirs (e.g.: "I know Bill. They work in the Accounting Department").

Unacceptable Variations

The following email signatures are a few examples of what should not be used as signatures on UND emails.