Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Allen

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

Long and low, it takes the whole width of the line.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A level and spare hand. The capital is only 1.9 times the height of the letters after it. The double "l" in "Allen" goes down as one motion, so the middle of the name never stops.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

An urgent and unbroken hand. It leans 24 degrees off vertical. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

One letter does the performing, and the others hold still for it.

the full name · a swept capital · finished on a long sail

An airy and rounded hand. The letters are set well apart. Almost nothing else here runs a long swept approach into the A.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Upright and composed, it never looks rushed.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

An even and deliberate hand. It holds one weight almost the whole way through.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A dense and unbroken hand. The letters are packed close together. It is the rare one that leaves on an exit stroke long enough to carry the eye off the page.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A dramatic and restrained hand. The stroke swells and thins by a factor of 3.8.

What Allen gives a designer

Everything starts with the A. The studio holds 2 distinct constructions of that capital — drawn from how professionals actually open a name — and each direction below commits to one of them.

The rest of the name sets the terrain: the l reaches into the ascender line, which gives the mark its upper silhouette and the double l is a rhythm no other letter pair gives — two identical strokes that must agree.

5 letters is the length most signatures are built on — enough travel for character, little enough to repeat exactly.

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.

Other names