Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Jonathon

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

Compact, with its weight gathered in one place.

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

A dramatic and upright hand. The stroke swells and thins by a factor of 3.1. It is also one of the few here that stands the name on the J's own foot. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

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

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

both names in one unbroken line · a swept capital · underlined in one return stroke

A grand and dense hand. The capital stands 2.9 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here runs both names together as one word.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A rounded and airy hand. Every turn is rounded off. It is also one of the few here that takes the J's tail underneath the name and back.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · a capital on its own shelf

An unbroken and urgent hand. Only 9 pen lifts in the whole thing. It is the rare one that stands the name on the J's own foot.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

the full name · closed with a small loop

An airy and grand hand. The letters are set well apart. Almost nothing else here takes the J's tail underneath the name and back.

What Jonathon gives a designer

Everything starts with the J. The studio holds 3 distinct constructions of that capital — drawn from how professionals actually open a name — and each direction below commits to one of them.

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

Jonathon 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