jthompson Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 This is more a question of what rather than how. So far, our staff have all been left to set their own email signatures, with predictably varied results. There's now a desire for the school to have some more consistent corporate branding, of which a standardised email signature will be a part. Whilst I welcome the consignment of 8-line bright purple comic sans signatures to the dustbin (hurrah!) I'm thinking about what ideas might end up gaining momentum. In particular, embedding an image of the school badge in email signatures is one of the first ideas that crops up, but it's a bit of a pet hate of mine. It's easy to make a clunky email signature and I don't want it being made to match our headed paper. Our school badge is shield shaped, mainly black and generally looks poor at small scale, so I'm keen to not have it included. I also feel that images in signature blocks encourage people to turn on image loading by default. Is it reasonable for me to be recommending a minimalist, image-free email signatures? Something like a two-liner with name, role and school URL? Maybe a direct dial as well if appropriate for the person's role. Set in a subtly different colour from body text, to help readability of longer email threads but will still 'work' when read in plain text messages. Firstname Surname Lead Delivery Officer www.schoolname.edu Would people mind sharing whatever formats your schools have prescribed and what your thoughts are about them?
TechMonkey Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 You can recommend it, but I would let it be a Management decision and let it come down from them. People are weirdly attached to their vivid pink, curly font sign offs. We went with a standard school banner with name and job title above it, allowing people to add their own sign off (yours, kind regards, etc). Internally we just have name and position, to allow new staff to match people with roles. We don't put direct dial on so that first contact can be through the school and then if wanted the person can disseminate their number. We then turned off signatures in Outlook and locked them down. The image in sigs is a hard one, we have it but it is part of our brand and helps identify us. I hate those corporate multi-lined advertising ones we get that often are bigger than the message sent. My first thought is if your logo looks naff push to get that updated even if it is a redraw. One of the best things I did early on was convert our logo to an SWF in Inkscape as it allowed any size to be created as a crisp new logo, rather than fuzzier and fuzzier versions being made. Overall it isn't a ridiculous suggestion but has to be a input to a wider school decision and the final decision will likely be out of your hands. 1
mavhc Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 Putting images in it just makes it break, now you have attachments, which get auto blocked, etc etc. Why anyone would need an email sig at all is my main question, there's a from address, it has all the info already.
TechMonkey Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 Putting images in it just makes it break, now you have attachments, which get auto blocked, etc etc. You are doing it wrong then. Our signature doesn't break, or have attachments. Why anyone would need an email sig at all is my main question, there's a from address, it has all the info already. Not if they want to call you, or maybe want to find where you are easily for a meeting, or numerous other reasons. Just because you can't think of reasons doesn't mean nobody else can or doesn't have reason to.
hardtailstar Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 Our management decided on the below. Arial size 11. Name Job Title I School Tel: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error, or think you may have done so, you may not peruse, use, disseminate or copy this message. Please notify the sender immediately and delete the original email from your system Please consider the environment and only print this e-mail if absolutely necessary
mavhc Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 You are doing it wrong then. Our signature doesn't break, or have attachments. Not if they want to call you, or maybe want to find where you are easily for a meeting, or numerous other reasons. Just because you can't think of reasons doesn't mean nobody else can or doesn't have reason to. Interesting, are you using data: URIs for your images? Should be able to find your icalendar feed from your email+dns automatically, plus any other details via similar means
MatthewL Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 Exclaimer is what has been used for ours and a few others I know. I've always been told images shouldn't be in email signatures as like mentioned above they can be blocked, also in plain text they do not always display properly. It's a pet hate of mine. Just keep it simple as: Name Job Title - Orginisation Tel (weather DDI or main switch) Any text you want to add as a disclaimer type thing.
TechMonkey Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Interesting, are you using data: URIs for your images? Should be able to find your icalendar feed from your email+dns automatically, plus any other details via similar meansShould. Not the most inspiring word. Why force someone to jump through hoops when you can just lay it out? With the details in an email, if the person has recieved it then even if they are off line they can get your details. Automate it and you have no issue. It's not like you are being charged per character!
3s-gtech Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Our management decided on the below. Arial size 11. Name Job Title I School Tel: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error, or think you may have done so, you may not peruse, use, disseminate or copy this message. Please notify the sender immediately and delete the original email from your system Please consider the environment and only print this e-mail if absolutely necessary Ughhh, just the sort of sig I can’t stand. Loads of fluff (none of which has any real legal standing) and asking not to print it as if that’s people’s’ default with an email. I like the idea of a standardised sig, perhaps even down to corporate font, but I’m not a fan of anything which can really bulk up an email thread. 1
MartinT Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Exclaimer Signature Manager is what we use in our Exchange server. We have the school logo, name, position, telephone and the website as well as some small icons to our social media. It works very well. Professional branding is important these days.
mavhc Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Once I put a link in the footer to our website, which had the BS someone wanted to add about how it's all private. If it were private you'd have encrypted it. Should have made the page that the link goes to say: Didn't anyone tell you not to click on links in emails?
dhicks Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Our school badge is shield shaped, mainly black and generally looks poor at small scale, so I'm keen to not have it included. As suggested above, if you don't already have a vector version of your school logo, this might be a good time to get it converted. SVG data can be included as inline data in an HTML page - it might be worth seeing how well that works in an HTML signature block, which would solve any problems with images being separate / blockable files.
jthompson Posted October 18, 2019 Author Posted October 18, 2019 Professional branding is important these days. I agree. I'm welcoming the school's desire have more consistent branding (it's going to emcompass PowerPoint templates, etc.). I just want to avoid something that ends up messy once it's been forwarded through 5 different email systems, mobile phone clients, etc. Do you ever find that your signatures get mangled at all after replies or forwards from external senders?
mavhc Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Branding is what parents look for most in a school, they're always phoning up to ask if they can buy yet another new set of uniform with the new logo on.
leegcvcc Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Branding might be the wrong word, but a professional and sharp looking front shop is rather important... and this extends to emails and communication channels too..well, to me anyway, regardless of what it's like in the background. A uniform signature is a way to achieve part of this quite easily. Wish i could afford Exclaimer....seems super awesome!
TechMonkey Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 (edited) Branding is what parents look for most in a school, they're always phoning up to ask if they can buy yet another new set of uniform with the new logo on. Yeah, send out scrappy bits of paper, a crayon drawn newsletter and information with poor spelling and grammar and see how well you do. Now one said Branding is a key focus for parents but it does present a professional front, so the School looks its best. Hence, you know, the reason for the thread looking for consistency and best ways of doing. I'm not sure if you have changed your drink of choice recently or need to mavhc?! Edited October 18, 2019 by TechMonkey
mavhc Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Do you ever find that your signatures get mangled at all after replies or forwards from external senders? If only someone had invented the signature separator, so email clients would remove them automatically. -- Mark (irony is the space was removed if I didn't use code tags)
MartinT Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Do you ever find that your signatures get mangled at all after replies or forwards from external senders? Yes, it happens - usually when it's been through a shit phone e-mail client. Most of the time it's well preseved but it depends on how cleanly HTML e-mail is handled. I forgot to mention: optimising the logo so that it's properly sized and doesn't require scaling down is the way to keep it small and efficient.
MartinT Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 If anyone wants to see what Exclaimer can do, PM me your address and I'll send you a message, complete with e-sig.
jthompson Posted October 18, 2019 Author Posted October 18, 2019 I forgot to mention: optimising the logo so that it's properly sized and doesn't require scaling down is the way to keep it small and efficient. It's more the fact that the badge includes spindly little details that just don't work at a small size. It would involve redesigning the badge to better suit a smaller graphic. Not sure if that's what you meant anyway.
MartinT Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 No, I was really referring to keeping e-mails from becoming bloaty in size.
jakalan7 Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 I'd definitely recommend Exclaimer if you want to standardize all your email signatures, it doesn't break the bank either.
TTG_Alice Posted October 21, 2019 Posted October 21, 2019 What @MartinT said above about Exclaimer. Easy and manageable where you can keep all signatures looking the same. There is a free tool on there to make your own email signatures too > https://free-email-signature.exclaimer.com
TechMonkey Posted October 21, 2019 Posted October 21, 2019 Just checked prices against what we are paying for CodeTwo and I would recommend looking at both. CodeTwo works out about £400 cheaper.
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