Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Kaitlin

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 K · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

The capital keeps its place, which puts the emphasis on the whole name.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A long-running and airy hand. It runs 5.9 times wider than it is tall. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A quick and angular hand. The line carries the momentum of a hand that never slowed down. It is the rare one that leaves on an exit stroke long enough to carry the eye off the page.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

both names in one unbroken line · underlined in one return stroke

A theatrical and compact hand. One letter is pushed well past the proportions of its neighbors. 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 · underlined in one return stroke

A grand and compact hand. The capital stands 2.9 times the height of the letters after it.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

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

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

the full name · closed with a small loop

An upright and quick hand. It stands almost straight up, 18 degrees off vertical. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

What Kaitlin gives a designer

The capital K carries the mark. There is one professional construction of it on the studio's shelf, and which one a design commits to changes the whole gesture.

The rest of the name sets the terrain: the t and l reach 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.

Kaitlin is 7 letters: room for a real rhythm without the fatigue of a long run.

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