Email Signature Format
Formatting an email signature means defining the information hierarchy (what goes first), typography (font sizes and weights), spacing (line heights and padding), and structure (one column vs two column, separator style). The format should make the recipient's name, your title, and your phone number scannable in under two seconds.
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Information Hierarchy
Elements in order of visual prominence, top to bottom:
14–16px, font-weight: 700, darkest text colour (#111)Primary identifier. Recipients scan for this first.
13–14px, font-weight: 400 or 500, brand accent colour or #333Establishes authority and context for the email.
13px, font-weight: 400, #555Can be on the same line as title or a separate line.
12–13px, font-weight: 400, #777Phone, email, website. The actionable elements.
20–24px icons, 8px spacingVisual, low-hierarchy. Placed after contact details.
10–11px, #999, separated by border-top or extra spacingMust be present but should not dominate visually.
Layout Formats
Stacked (single column)
Minimalist signatures, text-only, mobile-firstAll elements stacked vertically. No logo or image. Simplest format — works everywhere including plain text fallback. Best for senior professionals who don't need visual branding.
Two-column with vertical divider
Standard professional, corporateLogo or headshot in the left column, text details in the right column, separated by a 2-3px vertical border. The most common professional signature format. Built with a two-cell HTML table row.
Horizontal banner
Corporate with prominent brandingLogo above the text block, full width. Text details below. Works well when the company logo is a horizontal wordmark. Built with two table rows (logo row, details row).
Typography Rules
Arial, Helvetica, sans-serifWeb-safe stack. Georgia or Times New Roman for formal/legal. Never use Google Fonts — they don't load in Outlook or Gmail signatures.
14–16pxBold (700). The only bold element in the signature. If two things are bold, nothing is bold.
12–13pxRegular weight (400). Job title, company, contact details. Smaller than the name but readable on all devices.
10–11pxMuted colour (#999 or lighter). Small enough to de-emphasise, large enough to be technically readable. Below 10px, some email clients enforce a minimum size.
1.4–1.6Set on each element via line-height in inline CSS. Prevents text from feeling cramped. Email clients don't inherit line-height reliably — set it on every text element.
margin: 0 on all p tagsEmail clients add wildly different default margins to paragraphs. Set margin:0 on every p tag, then control spacing with margin-top or margin-bottom explicitly.
Separator Styles
Vertical left border
border-left: 2px solid #2563EBApplied to the right table cell (details column). Most common professional separator. Outlook renders border-left reliably.
Horizontal line above signature
border-top: 1px solid #e2e8f0Applied to the outer table. Separates the signature from the email body. Use a light, muted colour.
No separator
No border stylesThe minimalist approach. Let whitespace alone create separation. Appropriate for text-only signatures.
Related Guides
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