What is the Best Email Signature Design Size? Expert Guide

08.12.2022
Read time: 7 min
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What is the Best Email Signature Design Size? Expert Guide
Try Publicate For Free Today
02.03.2022
Read time: 13 min

When it comes to email signature design size, size does matter. Since an email signature can be used as a marketing tool and is a display of your professionalism, you’ll want it to render as you envision for all recipients. 

By now, you may be asking “What size should an email signature be?”. We’re going to share what an email signature standard size and what you should take into consideration when building your own. 

Person working on laptop

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What is the Best Email Signature Size for Weight?   

An email signature includes assets like logos, along with contact information, and perhaps even a photo. As a result, it can become “heavy” in terms of its data size. The more data involved, the longer it could take to load by an email server and email client. 

For this reason, you want to be aware of your email signature size in terms of weight. The typical recommendation is that you should keep it under 100 KB, but the fewer the kilobytes, the better.

Other risks that you may encounter with heavy email signatures include:

  • Mailboxes do have their data limits, so by sending an email with a heavy email signature weight, you’ll be cluttering mailboxes for no reason. 
  • The heavier an email is, the higher the chance it gets flagged by a spam filter. 

Additionally, if you are intentional with your email signature size, you’ll be able to design a beautiful email signature that can contain social media buttons and a marketing banner, without sacrificing load time. 

What is the Best Email Signature Size for Dimensions?   

Along with the weight of your email signature, you want to be cognizant of its dimensions. 

Optimally,  your email signature design size will be between 300-600 pixels wide and about 90-150 pixels tall. The screen size is what dictates the width constraints. While there are technically no height constraints, you wouldn’t want to design an extra long signature for no reason. 

Luckily, you can use an email signature builder tool that will manage all the sizing for you. All you have to do is search through an array of beautiful templates and choose the one that calls your name, or should we say, calls for your name!

Then, you can input your details and export your email signature to your email service provider of choice. By using a template, you’ll ensure that all sizes, from weight to dimension, are properly considered. 

What is the Best Email Signature Size for Desktop?   

When it comes to desktop email signatures, the standard width is 650 pixels. While 650 pixels will work across desktops, it may be better to try out 600 pixels wide so that your email signature doesn’t get cropped at the edges of the screen. 

However, if the email is viewed in a window that is smaller than 600 pixels wide, it will affect the view of your email signature. That being said, you can make your email signature smaller to about 450 pixels wide. This way, you’ll be sure that all the necessary contact information will display, even if the window size is minimized. 

What is the Best Email Signature Size for Mobile?   

85% of users access their emails on their smartphone. This means that when you design your email signature, it’s vital to make sure that it will show up as intended on a mobile device

With this in mind, you’ll want to make sure the text size is legible. Additionally, your email signature dimensions should be around 320 pixels in width. Most mobile devices range between 320 and 500 pixels wide. The reason why you’ll want to be at the lower limit is so that it renders in the highest quality on the smallest screen size. 

How Linked Images Can Reduce Email Signature Size?       

Remember when we mentioned that heavy emails can clog up email servers? Images inside an email signature, such as a marketing banner, social media icons, or company logo, all increase the size of an email. (Pro tip: Your email signature logo size should be between 300 to 400 pixels wide). 

Rather than attaching the images to an email every time, you have the option of linked images. Linked images can be implemented by uploading images to your server. Then, when you’re ready to send an email, you can link them in your email signature. 

The major caveat here is that every time the message is opened, the linked images will have to be downloaded. In most recipients’ email clients, linked images are automatically blocked until the recipient voluntarily chooses to unblock them. 

How to Prepare Email Signatures for Retina Displays?   

Some recipients may be using a Retina display device. Retina display has to do with pixel density. The resolution is so high, and the pixels are so dense, that the naked eye cannot distinguish between pixels at a normal viewing distance. The result? An optimized viewing experience with incredible detail.

This means that your email signature has to keep up! To do so, you’d want to double the width and height of images so that they don’t lose their sharpness. 

What is the Best Sizing for Banners in Email Signatures?

Just like an email signature has its recommended  email signature design size (that’s about 650 px wide or less and up to 150 px tall), an email signature banner follows suit. 

An email signature banner is an optional addition to your email signature that can withhold more information, a call-to-action, and look like a native ad of sorts. 

To make sure that your email signature banner can render well across devices and screens, we suggest using a maximum width of 650 px and a maximum height of 150 px. The email banner size shouldn’t exceed a weight of 40kb. 

Professional on phone

Photo from Pexels

What are Email Signature Design Size Best Practices?   

With the various nuances between screen sizes and resolutions, how do you pick the email signature size and email banner size that will work the best across recipients? Well, it’s time to answer a few important questions:

Who is your target market?

Think about who the people are that are receiving your email. Are they more likely to be reading emails on mobile devices or desktops? Are they the cohort that is likely to follow a link to a social media profile?

How valuable is imagery? 

For creative professions, images speak more than 1,000 words! They give your audience a taste of your abilities. However, if you’re working for a doctor’s office or law firm, images may be less of a value add. In those cases, you can reduce the size of your email by forgoing the addition of imagery. 

Following these email design best practices can quickly become a lot to keep track of. However, with the aid of an email signature tool, the solution takes care of all the little details for you.

With a template builder you don’t have to ever worry about checking off all the best practices boxes during your creation process plus you have the benefit of drag-and-drop editing functionality, many templates to choose from, and a simple way to export your design to any platform. 

What are the DO’s and DON’Ts of Email Signature Design?   

If you take nothing else from this article, be sure to take with you the recommended  email signature design size, as well as the following Dos and DON’Ts of email signature design. (So yes, basically take it all with you). 

1. Make it Responsive 

Since you won’t necessarily know the screen sizes of your recipients, you can reduce scaling errors and odd rendering by choosing a responsive email signature design. This means that the design will render according to screen size automatically. 

2. Make it Detailed

Be sure to include the required details for an email signature design, such as your name, title, and contact information. If you have active and professional social media accounts, feel free to add those in to boost engagement across platforms. 

3. Keep it Clean 

Keep the design uncluttered so that it is neither too heavy nor overwhelming. 

4. Don’t Forget ALT Text

Alt text accompanies images. In the event an image doesn’t load or someone cannot access an image, it is a simple description of what the image entails. 

5. Don’t Use Bullets

While you have a few different elements to include in your email signature, avoid the use of bullets. Email providers view bullets differently, so they won’t always show up how you see them. 

How do Email Signature Tools Help with Email Signature Size?   

The truth is when you’re designing your email signature, you’d rather spend your time and energy on the creative output rather than having to worry about sizes and weights.  like Publicate and explore our library of templates. 

With all the things you have to remember, it’s much easier to use an email signature tool. An email signature tool is packed with templates that follow email sizing best practices, as well as design best practices. 

On top of it all, you can customize your design seamlessly using the drag-and-drop editor and export it with the click of a button using the integrated features. 

As a result, all you have to focus on is the information you want to include. Plus, you’ll have the freedom to customize your email signature design (including branding, colors, fonts, and more) however you’d like to. 

With email signature tools, you don’t need to know how to code and you don’t have to have any design experience.

Signature (and Sizing) Required! 

There’s a lot that goes into email signature design size! The sizing is so important because it affects how recipients will view and be able to utilize your email signature. At the same time, it also is a representation of your professionalism and brand, so you want to make sure it looks great every time! 

Now you know the sizes, considerations, do’s and don’ts, you’re prepared to create your own email signature. With an email signature builder, all these recommendations are already included. All you have to do is get to building. 

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