Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Jane

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 J · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

the full name · a capital on its own shelf · finished on a long sail

An angular and level hand. The turns are cut rather than curved. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

Nothing curls that does not have to, and nothing is missing.

the full name · a capital on its own shelf · finished on a long sail

An angular and restrained hand. The turns are cut rather than curved.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

An unbroken and long-running hand. Only 9 pen lifts in the whole thing.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A generous and theatrical hand. It spends 34 loops getting through your name.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

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

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Compact, with its weight gathered in one place.

the full name · a capital on its own shelf · closed with a small loop

An upright and dramatic hand. It stands almost straight up, 19 degrees off vertical. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

What Jane gives a designer

The capital J carries the mark. There are 3 distinct professional constructions of it on the studio's shelf, and which one a design commits to changes the whole gesture.

After the capital, Jane runs entirely at x-height — no ascenders, no tails — so the whole middle of the mark is a single calm band, and the capital and the closing gesture do all the talking.

Four letters or fewer is the easiest length to keep consistent — Jane can be written in full on everything from a card to a contract.

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