Text is one of the pillars of emails because it is what conveys the information in it. And the font you choose for your email really matters — not only from an aesthetic point of view — but also from a readability point of view. According to the University of Nebraska Omaha, the right font can affect reading comprehension by up to 10%. And even in such a small piece of email as a signature, the font is an important component.
We decided to pay attention to this design element and talk about the best fonts you can use for your signature, as well as some tips for working with fonts in this part of the email.
Email signature font design tips
Before you start choosing a font from a wide variety, it’s worth talking about some nuances that can directly influence your choice.
Use bold, italic, or underline sparingly
These styles are quite popular and can be applied to all known fonts. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that they are auxiliary, not primary, as they directly impact the readability and the looks of the fonts you choose. To improve readability, they should be used only to emphasize something important and to accentuate the recipients’ attention.
For example, here’s how bold, italic, and underline look when applied to three different fonts (from left to right: Arial, Courier New, and Georgia).
Pair serif and sans serif fonts
These two fonts are distinguished by decorative serifs at the ends of the letters. It seems like a small difference, but the perception of these fonts is strikingly different. Serif fonts are considered more traditional in design, while sans serif fonts are more modern. By combining fonts from these two families, you can achieve a balanced and attractive email signature that will help enhance your brand.
Besides, we’ve created a fully-fledged article about fonts where you can learn more about serif fonts.
Don’t overuse decorative fonts
Decorative fonts bring style, chic, and uniqueness to texts. However, behind the fancy side of these fonts lies the rather unpleasant fact that some people will have a hard time reading text written in a font like this. The overuse of such fonts can also make your email signature design appear unprofessional.
For example, here’s one phrase written in three decorative fonts. To be honest, these are the most readable ones. Picking more unique and rare decorative fonts can put a wall between the recipient and your engaging email text.
Accessibility comes first
Everything you’ve read above is advice that has been tested in practice and will make your email signature text top-notch. However, all your choices should primarily be based on the question, “Will people with visual impairments be able to read my text?”
Readability and accessibility for people with visual impairments always come first when choosing a font and designing a signature. No matter how much you want to stand out with green decorative capital text with underlining — readability and accessibility for the audience are the keys to email success.
Creating accessible emails is not rocket science, but it nears it. You need many insights and much knowledge and to see the world through the eyes of people with visual impairments.
We’ve collected all this information in our special Email Accessibility guide. Those who struggle to read inaccessible emails will say “Thank you” for your personal approach and care in your accessible newsletters.
Best fonts for your email signature
Now, let’s talk about fonts you can use to make your email signature stylish and readable.
Arial
This font is a classic for text design, even though it belongs to the sans serif family. It’s perfect for both corporate and commercial emails on any subject and industry.
(Source: Stripo template)
Times New Roman
Another eternal companion of text is the serif family. This font can be found everywhere, and its use in emails is not uncommon. It’s perfect for serious email newsletters emphasizing professionalism and rigor.
(Source: Stripo template)
Helvetica
This font is quite similar to Arial, but with slightly more subtle details, making it incredibly easy to read and versatile for text design.
(Source: Stripo template)
Courier New
The beauty of this design is that the characters are all the same width, which is not immediately obvious, but feels different when reading, like something is different from other fonts. While it’s not ideal for everyday text, it can be used for code snippets or short technical information in your signature.
(Source: Stripo template)
Georgia
Another classic serif font that has become the basis for many text designs, this is a serif font with decorative strokes, but its thinness and lightness make it ideal for business email signatures.
(Source: Stripo template)
Comic Sans
Let’s take a break from business fonts and take a look at Comic Sans. It’s an extremely popular font in informal emails. However, given the right email niche and mood (e.g., an arts festival email), it can fit into the design of a fully-fledged email newsletter like a glove.
(Source: Stripo template)
Manrope
Another light sans serif font that will fit perfectly into any email design, regardless of the niche and mood of the email. In addition, it allows designers to create a rich, layered typographic hierarchy while maintaining a singular stylistic voice.
(Source: Stripo template)
Trebuchet MS
A great font that frees designers from the main headache when designing emails — “How to fit this text into this element?” This modern and elegant font features a narrow letterform, allowing designers to fit more text into your signature without sacrificing readability.
(Source: Stripo template)
Verdana
This font was designed to be easily read on desktop and mobile devices. This approach is incredibly important in the age of smartphones, as 41% of all email openings happen on these devices.
(Source: Stripo template)
Tahoma
This font is a pretty good alternative to Arial that can bring a more progressive feel to brand text designs. Besides, its universal design allows its use in a variety of industries and newsletter types.
(Source: Stripo template)
Wrapping up
At first glance, it would seem that choosing a font for an email takes a matter of minutes. Just choose what you like, and you can start designing an email. However, it’s not that simple.
You need to keep in mind many factors, such as the readability of the font, its compliance with the style and mood of your brand, whether there will be problems with placing the text of this font in the email, and so on. And the most important factor remains accessibility. If your font cannot be read by people with visual impairments, you are losing your audience.
We hope that this short guide will help you choose the perfect font for an email signature that will become an excellent support for your design code.
