To choose the best signature font, give preference to universal or “web safe” typefaces.

What are “web safe” fonts?

Not every typeface is compatible with all devices and operating systems. And if your typeface is not installed on the recipients’ side, your signature won't look the way you see it on your screen. So you need the typeface that displays correctly on all types of platforms (PC, Mac, Android, iOS, and so on.)

List of “web safe” fonts

• Arial
• Arial Black
• Calibri
• Comic Sans MS
• Courier New
• Georgia
• Helvetica
• Lucida
• Palatino
• Tahoma
• Trebuchet
• Verdana
• Times New Roman

You may want to use an email signature custom font which you created specifically for your brand, but we don’t recommend it. While you may expect people to like your polished email signature, they will see fallback typefaces like Times New Roman or Arial instead. Even worse, the design may be completely broken on their end.

When choosing the best font for business email signature, pay attention to its size, style, and color.

• Type of font

Fancy, creative signature fonts like at the image below could be bad for your brand’s reputation because they will clutter your email footer or make it hard to read. So it's better to stick to Serif or Sans-serif typeface families.

Serif. Serifs are small lines tailing from the edges of letters. For example, Newoldstamp (in Times New Roman)

Sans-serif fonts, on the contrary, don’t have “serifs” on the end of strokes. For instance, Newoldstamp (in Verdana).

Serifs are generally used to increase contrast and spacing between different letters and improve identification. Sans-serifs are good even in small sizes because of their simple form.

• Email signature font size

It is best to use 10-12pt typefaces to ensure easy readability.

• Cursive and bold signature fonts

When using italics or bolding, keep in mind that the recipients' eyes will naturally be drawn to the highlighted words. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to make the entire email footer text bold or cursive. To separate your name/title/company name from the rest of the signature, you can put it in bold. See some excellent examples below.

• Font color

Use your corporate colors to create an aesthetic email signature for your business.  However, if you have no company or you don't want to use corporate colors for some reason, here is our advice: combine classic black or grey with any suitable color like blue or green. Try to avoid blood red, light yellow, light green, and other flashy colors which can make your signature hard to read.

• Handwritten signature font

Although a handwritten email signature can sometimes add a personal touch to your messages, it's not the best option to choose for personalization. The problem is that it will be an image, and the recipient won't be able to copy your contact data. Today, there is a variety of handwriting fonts, but as mentioned above, most of them are not “web safe.”

• Using too many colors

Don’t use more than two different colors in the text if you want your signature to look professional and stylish.

• Using different fonts in one signature

If you choose to create the contrast, it is okay to use different fonts, but don't use more than two for one email signature. Otherwise, you are risking the design of a confusing and hard to read signature.

The best thing you can do to avoid all these fonts selection problems is to use a professional email signature generator. For instance, Newoldstamp has the most appealing fonts to choose from.