Fancy Email Fonts/colors and backgrounds
By vivasuzi
@vivasuzi (4127)
United States
June 2, 2009 12:27pm CST
Do you think that fancy email fonts, colors and backgrounds have any place in the business world? I'm getting so tired of emails that come through with fancy, hard to read fonts OR bright hard to read colors OR horrible backgrounds that make the email almost impossible to read. I get it - you figured out how to change your default font - good for you. But it doesn't mean you SHOULD change it.
I think it's OK to put a small graphic in your signature now and then (like Happy Holidays!), but I really wish people would stop getting so fancy with their regular emails in the business world. How does it look if I print out an email for an important meeting or something and your font is all fancy dancy and hard to read? I think it looks unprofessional.
While the attached image shows only a small part of text, imagine trying to read an entire paragraph with that background.
I get that it's fun to mess with your emails when sending to Friends, but when answering work related emails in pink handwriting font or with a polka dot background, I just don't like it. What do you think?
2 people like this
4 responses
@thedailyclick (3017)
•
2 Jun 09
You hit the nail on the head when you say "it's fun to mess with your emails when sending to friends" and that is exactly where it should stay. Call me boring but I hate receiving any emails which are not in some sort of standard text and colour.
The other thing people forget is that if they don't know the person they are emailing then you don't know if that person has some form of visual issues, such as colour blindness, or struggle with text which is all jaggedy.
Taking it back to basics, an email is primarily a form of communication and if the choice of colours and fonts make it too difficult to read then it has failed at communicating the contents.
2 people like this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
3 Jun 09
You bring up a valid point and also reminded me of ANOTHER point ... not every person has their email set to HTML, so sometimes the emails can come through real screwy and messed up as the email program tries to figure out all the strange backgounds and things. I was even annoyed when we first got outlook here and the default "reply" color as a lightish blue. I changed my default "reply" color to black and have helped others do the same, but many people have choosen to change it to ANOTHER color or just don't know how to change it.
@sanuanu (11235)
• India
3 Jun 09
There is something called formal and casual. Just like we can't use fancy dress for a buisness meeting or even at buisness duty, we can't use those fancy and colorful fonts or graphics for business emails. I have never seen any business emails in othe than default format. When i was workign,I have never used any color or different font for formal emails. I was very alert in writting those because it would generaly relate to my work, isn't it?
I don't think anyone will be using those for busines purpose. Those are for casual messages likes, happy holiday or miss you or somethng like that!
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
3 Jun 09
Well I recieve plenty of emails with different fonts, colors and backgrounds which is why I started this. That picture above is from a real email I received. It's hard to take people seriously when they send their work emails like that, b/c you wonder how important the email really is! I'll definitely have fun with "happy holidays" and emails like that, but I'm starting to get tired of these fancy fonts and things on every day work emails.
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
5 Jun 09
Trouble is, there are no protocols for emails and I'm in no position to make one. It's one of those little things that no one says anything about but it annoys me for sure. I did hear IT tell me that they were going to start disallowing images in signatures, but whenever I hear stuff like that it is MONTHS before it's even brought up again. We'll see!
I have responded to people before and told them if something was really too hard to read. For example, some people use fonts that are not widely availabe, so the email came to me with just boxes! I had to tell them I couldn't read it. I know I can change the font of Their email, but I shouldn't have to. So I tell them "i can't read your email, it's just showing boxes" so they learn not to use that font.
Anyway, with the economy the way it is, our companies got bigger fish to fry than email backgrounds so I doubt it's anywhere near their list of priorities :)
@sanuanu (11235)
• India
4 Jun 09
If that image is meant for a work email, then it must be reported to your or his/her boss immediately. Reason behind is that there must be protocols in your office which must be followed by everyone. It must be not altered by anyone, no matter how high his/her post it!
@smooch091784 (973)
• Philippines
3 Jun 09
I sometimes send emails to a special person and I always try to have a cool background for that for a better reading and ambiance.. I love it! Changing of fonts would be hassle on my part cause I wanted it all to be simple but with a little creativeness.. So background would be enough for me.. Afterall, no matter what kind of background or fonts I have it won't matter that much, it matters most is what's the content of the emails and the messages.. 
@tracy_d (76)
• India
3 Jun 09
Of course there should be some professionalism in formal communication. The way you communicate, talk over the phone or even compose your emails speaks a lot about you. It creates a very bad impression if formal emails are not addressed in a particular standard format. I totally agree with you. Even I prefer to send or receive work related emails in simple font and colour!
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
3 Jun 09
I'll allow changing the default Times New Roman font :) But mostly b/c I hate Times New Roman, it's ugly! However, the choices have to be something basic like Arial, Verdana, or outlook uses Calibri by default. As long as the font is simple, straight lines, I'm happy. But when I get handwriting or silly text, I start to wonder about the person who sent it... what were they thinking?
