Email Best Practices

The following are a few best practices to be used when creating email signatures or composing promotional email messages. Following these guidelines will provide a better experience for email users.

Email Signatures

No logos or graphics should be used in university email signatures.

DO:

Do use minimal formatting.
Do use caution when selecting colors.

Example:

Example of a correct university email signature that uses only blue for the link color and no images

DON'T:

Don't use JPGs, PNGs, or any other image types.
Don't use low-contrast colors.

Example:

Crossed out example of an email signature with light gray text on a white background and an embedded image

Promotional Emails

DO:

Do use the TAM Logo Box in email image headers.

Example:

Example of a simple email image header that has the Box TAM Logo over an image

DON'T:

Don't use the White TAM Logo on backgrounds that aren't maroon.

Example:

Crossed out example of a unit identity lockup using the White TAM Logo on a green background

DO:

Do be considerate of persons with disabilities and use header images for decoration rather than communication.
Note: If text must be used in the header image, also include it in the email body as a text heading.

Example:

Example of a simple email image header with a logo on a patterned maroon background

DON'T:

Don't place text (other than a logo) in header images whenever possible.

Example:

Crossed out example of email image header with date, time, event title, and subhead