Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Latisha

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 L · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

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

the full name · a capital on its own shelf

A deliberate and quick hand. It is built in 13 separate strokes. It is also one of the few here that stands the name on the L's own foot. The "s" in "Latisha" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

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

A compact and spare hand. It stays 2.3 times wider than tall, where most signatures sprawl. It is the rare one that stands the name on the L's own foot.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A grand and urgent hand. The capital stands 2.8 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here leaves on an exit stroke long enough to carry the eye off the page.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

One weight the whole way through, which is what makes it read as modern.

the full name · a swept capital · closed with a small loop

A generous and rounded hand. It spends 42 loops getting through your name. It is also one of the few here that runs a long swept approach into the L.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

the full name · a swept capital · underlined in one return stroke

A measured and unbroken hand. The pen keeps one pace instead of accelerating through. It is the rare one that runs a long swept approach into the L.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Upright and composed, it never looks rushed.

the full name · closed with a small loop

A grand and restrained hand. The capital stands 2.7 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

What Latisha gives a designer

The capital L carries the mark. There are 2 distinct professional constructions of it on the studio's shelf, and which one a design commits to changes the whole gesture.

What follows the capital decides the middle of the mark: the t and h 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.

7 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.

Other names