Checklist

Email Signature Brand Guidelines Checklist

Build a complete set of brand guidelines for your organization's email signatures. Define logo usage, color standards, typography, layout rules, and enforcement processes.

13 Steps

To complete brand guidelines

45 min

To document guidelines

94%

Consistency with enforced guidelines

What This Checklist Covers

Logo & Visual Standards

Define exactly how your logo should appear in email signatures — size, placement, clear space, and acceptable variations.

Color & Typography Rules

Specify approved brand colors (hex codes), font stacks, and text sizing for every signature element.

Approval & Enforcement

Establish approval workflows and enforcement mechanisms to prevent unauthorized signature modifications.

Brand Guidelines Checklist

Define the approved logo version for email signatures (primary, monochrome, or icon-only) and specify minimum size requirements

Document clear space rules around the logo — specify minimum padding in pixels to prevent visual crowding

Specify exact brand colors in hex format for each signature element: name, title, links, dividers, and icons

Define the primary and fallback font stacks (e.g., "Proxima Nova, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif") for email client compatibility

Set font sizes for each text element: name (14-16px), title (12-13px), contact details (12px), disclaimer (10-11px)

Create a required fields list: which information must appear in every signature (name, title, phone, email, website)

Create an optional fields list: which elements may be included at the employee's or department's discretion (pronouns, certifications, photo)

Define the signature layout structure: vertical stack, horizontal two-column, or L-shaped with logo placement

Specify rules for employee headshot photos: background color, cropping style, minimum resolution, and file format

Document social media icon requirements: which platforms to include, icon style (outline, filled, branded colors or monochrome), and dimensions

Create "do and don't" visual examples showing correct and incorrect signature implementations

Establish an approval workflow: who reviews new templates, who approves exceptions, and how requests are submitted

Distribute the brand guidelines document to all department heads and include it in your employee handbook or intranet

Building Effective Brand Guidelines

Brand guidelines for email signatures serve a dual purpose: they give designers clear specifications to work from and give administrators a reference point for enforcement. Without documented guidelines, brand consistency erodes as individual employees and departments make their own styling decisions.

The best brand guidelines are specific enough to eliminate ambiguity but flexible enough to accommodate different roles and departments. For example, a salesperson might include a booking link that an engineer would not, but both should use the same logo, colors, and layout.

Enforcement is as important as documentation. If employees can freely edit their signatures, guidelines become suggestions. Centralized signature management tools like Siggly enforce guidelines at the platform level, removing the possibility of off-brand customizations.

"We had 15 different signature "styles" across the company. After documenting our brand guidelines with this checklist and locking templates in Siggly, we finally look like one company."

Charlotte Dupont

Head of Brand, Stratosphere Media

Frequently Asked Questions

Who should create the email signature brand guidelines?

Marketing or Brand teams should lead, with input from IT (for technical constraints), Legal (for compliance requirements), and HR (for employee data standards). Final approval should come from a Brand or Marketing Director.

How detailed should the guidelines be?

Detailed enough that someone could recreate the signature from the document alone. Specify exact hex codes, pixel dimensions, font stacks, and field order. Include visual examples of correct and incorrect implementations.

Should I allow any employee customization?

It depends on your culture. Most organizations allow limited customization (pronouns, certifications, booking links) while locking core elements (logo, colors, layout). Define clearly what is and is not customizable.

How often should brand guidelines be updated?

Review annually or whenever there is a brand refresh, merger, or significant organizational change. Minor updates (adding a new social platform, updating a disclaimer) can be made ad hoc.

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