Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Emilia

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 E

Understated · flowing · fully readable

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

a capital on its own shelf · finished on a long sail

A level and restrained hand. The capital is only 1.6 times the height of the letters after it. It is also one of the few here that stands the name on the E's own foot.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

It leans into the page, the way a hand in a hurry does.

a capital on its own shelf · closed with a small loop

A spare and even hand. Only 1 loops in the whole mark. It is the rare one that stands the name on the E's own foot.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Measured rather than dashed off, and the steadier for it.

a capital thrown inside a loop · closed with a small loop

A dramatic and dense hand. The stroke swells and thins by a factor of 3.9. Almost nothing else here throws a flat loop right around the E.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

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

a capital that drops below the line · finished on a long sail

An even and quick hand. It holds one weight almost the whole way through. It is also one of the few here that drops the E's tail below the line to weigh it down.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

One movement, barely interrupted, which is why it repeats.

a capital thrown inside a loop

A level and airy hand. The capital is only 2.0 times the height of the letters after it. It is the rare one that throws a flat loop right around the E.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

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

finished on a long sail

A spare and upright hand. Only 1 loops in the whole mark.

What Emilia gives a designer

A signature is won or lost at its opening letter. For E, the studio draws from 2 constructions observed in professional hands, and every direction below chooses one and holds it.

What follows the capital decides the middle of the mark: 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.

6 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.