Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Levi

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

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

the full name · a capital on its own shelf

An upright and rounded hand. It stands almost straight up, 18 degrees off vertical. It is also one of the few here that stands the name on the L'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

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

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

An urgent and long-running hand. It leans 26 degrees off vertical. It is the rare one that lays a line back underneath the name.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A grand and angular hand. The capital stands 3.0 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

Compact, with its weight gathered in one place.

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

An airy and generous hand. The letters are set well apart. It is also one of the few here that lays a line back underneath the name.

Understated · sharp · 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

A quick and long-running hand. The line carries the momentum of a hand that never slowed down. It is the rare one that stands the name on the L's own foot.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

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

A grand and quick hand. The capital stands 3.1 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

What Levi 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.

The rest of the name sets the terrain: the dotted i leaves a mark above the line that a fast hand turns into a flick.

Levi is a compact name. Nothing needs abbreviating; the six directions below spend their effort on character instead.

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