Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Alice

Each one is a genuine drawing of the name — not a font — made by the same studio that draws the paid commission, with the design decisions stated under it.

Drawn from the name · 6 directions · capital A · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

the full name · finished on a long sail

A level and generous hand. The capital is only 2.0 times the height of the letters after it. It is also one of the few here that leaves on an exit stroke long enough to carry the eye off the page. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

Compact, with its weight gathered in one place.

the full name · a swept capital · closed with a small loop

An urgent and even hand. It leans 24 degrees off vertical. It is the rare one that ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Written at speed, and it shows in the best way.

the full name · closed with a small loop

A dramatic and theatrical hand. The stroke swells and thins by a factor of 3.8. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

It gives itself room, and reads as unhurried because of it.

the full name · a swept capital · underlined in one return stroke

A rounded and spare hand. Every turn is rounded off.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

The capital keeps its place, which puts the emphasis on the whole name.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A spare and unbroken hand. Only 13 loops in the whole mark.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

It turns corners instead of rounding them, and that is the whole temperament.

the full name · a swept capital · underlined in one return stroke

An upright and deliberate hand. It stands almost straight up, 20 degrees off vertical.

What Alice gives a designer

The capital A carries the mark. There are 2 distinct professional constructions of it on the studio's shelf, and which one a design commits to changes the whole gesture.

The rest of the name sets the terrain: the l reaches into the ascender line, which gives the mark its upper silhouette and the dotted i leaves a mark above the line that a fast hand turns into a flick.

Alice is 5 letters: room for a real rhythm without the fatigue of a long run.

Making it yours

These studies are drawn on the first name alone, because that is how the question is usually asked — but a working signature is built on your full name: the second capital, the balance between the two words, and the short everyday version are where the real design decisions live.

The studio draws twenty directions for your full name in about a minute, and the kit — the files, the report that explains the design, and the stroke-order lesson — is what the three you choose become.