SUNY Downstate E-Mail Signature Standards

A consistent e-mail signature identifies you clearly, presents the university professionally to everyone you correspond with, and keeps our communications reliable and accessible across every device and mail program.

Your e-mail signature is official university communication. Because it appears on every message you send, it is one of the most visible places the SUNY Downstate brand shows up. The standard below keeps that surface consistent for our audiences and avoids the technical and accessibility problems that extra images and graphics introduce.

Guidelines

• Use the standard format shown below for all faculty and staff signatures.
• The approved SUNY Downstate signature logo is the only image permitted. Do not add other logos, program badges, center or department marks, seals, certification or ranking badges, social-media icons, or any other graphics.
• Affiliations with programs, centers, labs, departments, or initiatives should be listed as plain text beneath your contact information — never as a badge or separate logo.
• Do not include taglines, slogans, mottos, mission statements, or inspirational quotations. On an individual’s signature these can read as official university positions.
• Do not apply background colors or background images to the signature or the message.
• Keep the order of your information consistent with the template so recipients can find contact details quickly, especially when corresponding with several people across the institution.

Why we keep signatures text-based

These limits are deliberate, and they rest on practical reasons rather than preference:

• Consistency of identity. Signatures represent SUNY Downstate as a whole. Anchoring every signature to the single institutional mark keeps us recognizable; a patchwork of sub-unit badges fragments that identity.
• Technical reliability. Additional images frequently arrive as attachments, are blocked by recipients’ mail security, add unnecessary size, and render inconsistently across Outlook, mobile clients, and webmail. They can also make it harder for recipients to tell a real attachment from a signature graphic.
• Accessibility. Every image in a signature must carry meaningful alternative text. Decorative badges add clutter that screen readers must announce on each message, working against our accessibility commitments.
• Avoiding implied endorsement. A badge on an individual’s e-mail can be read as an official university endorsement of a specific program or product. Plain-text affiliation communicates the same information without that risk.

Formatting

• Set the name line in Georgia (can use #06113D - Downstate Blue as Hex Code) and all remaining lines in Verdana, in black. These are the web- and e-mail-safe alternates to our brand fonts, Lora and Montserrat, and render reliably across mail clients.
• The name line may be bold for emphasis; everything else stays regular weight.
• Insert the approved signature logo and set its alternative text. In Outlook, right-click the image, choose “Edit Alt Text,” and enter SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University logo.
• A unit-specific web address may replace the downstate.edu link if it is more relevant to your work.

Setting it up in Outlook

1. 1. Open Outlook and start a new e-mail.
   2. Select Signature, then Signatures…
   3. Choose New to create a signature, or select an existing one to edit.
   4. Paste the template into the editing box.
   5. Confirm the fonts are correct — Georgia for the name line, Verdana for the rest — and replace the sample text with your details.
   6. Right-click the logo, choose Edit Alt Text, and enter the alt text shown above.
   7. Save the signature and set it as your default for new messages.

Showing a program or affiliation

Program, center, and initiative affiliations belong in your signature as a plain-text line below your contact information — not as a badge or second logo. This keeps the signature consistent and accessible while still giving your program clear recognition.

Requesting an exception

The standard applies to all faculty and staff signatures. In limited cases — for example, a time-limited commemorative or anniversary mark tied to an official university observance — an exception may be granted with advance approval from the Office of Communications & Marketing. Exceptions are not granted for standing program, center, or department badges. To request one, contact New Media Services before adding any graphic to a signature.

Questions

For help setting up your signature or to request an exception, contact New Media Services, Office of Communications & Marketing.