Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Jonathan

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

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A measured and restrained hand. The pen keeps one pace instead of accelerating through. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

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

A spare and even hand. Only 17 loops in the whole mark.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

both names in one unbroken line · a capital on its own shelf · finished on a long sail

An angular and grand hand. The turns are cut rather than curved. Almost nothing else here runs both names together as one word.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

the full name · closed with a small loop

An upright and rounded hand. It stands almost straight up, 19 degrees off vertical. It is also one of the few here that takes the J's tail underneath the name and back.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

the full name · a capital on its own shelf

A level and urgent hand. The capital is only 1.6 times the height of the letters after it. It is the rare one that adds no closing gesture at all.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

No letter shouts over another, which is rarer than it sounds.

the full name · closed with a small loop

A grand and deliberate hand. The capital stands 2.8 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

What Jonathan 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 that, the lowercase run does the work: the t and h reach into the ascender line, which gives the mark its upper silhouette.

Jonathan gives a hand 8 letters to carry. The professional answer is not to slow down but to decide early which letters are load-bearing.

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