Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Nicole

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 N

Understated · flowing · fully readable

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

a swept capital · finished on a long sail

A long-running and angular hand. It runs 3.5 times wider than it is tall. It is also one of the few here that runs a long swept approach into the N.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

closed with a small loop

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

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Compact, with its weight gathered in one place.

closed with a small loop

A quick and dramatic hand. The line carries the momentum of a hand that never slowed down.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

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

a capital thrown inside a loop · closed with a small loop

A grand and measured hand. The capital stands 2.9 times the height of the letters after it. It is also one of the few here that throws a flat loop right around the N.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Upright and composed, it never looks rushed.

a capital thrown inside a loop

A theatrical and spare hand. One letter is pushed well past the proportions of its neighbors. It is the rare one that throws a flat loop right around the N.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Drawn in stages, the way a considered mark is.

a swept capital · closed with a small loop

An even and urgent hand. It holds one weight almost the whole way through. Almost nothing else here runs a long swept approach into the N.

What Nicole gives a designer

A signature is won or lost at its opening letter. For N, the studio draws from 2 constructions observed in professional hands, and every direction below chooses one and holds it.

What follows the capital decides the middle of the mark: 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.

6 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.