Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Lincoln

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

It gives itself room, and reads as unhurried because of it.

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

A spare and restrained hand. Only 12 loops in the whole mark. 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 · closed with a small loop

A long-running and dramatic hand. It runs 5.3 times wider than it is tall.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

The capital dominates, and the rest of the name follows quietly.

the full name · closed with a small loop

A measured and dense hand. The pen keeps one pace instead of accelerating through.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Upright and composed, it never looks rushed.

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

A theatrical and deliberate hand. One letter is pushed well past the proportions of its neighbors. It is also one of the few here that runs a long swept approach into the L.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

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

A level and rounded hand. The capital is only 1.9 times the height of the letters after it.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

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 generous and compact hand. It spends 27 loops getting through your name.

What Lincoln 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 l reaches 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.

Lincoln 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