Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Raven

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 R · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

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

A deliberate and angular hand. It is built in 12 separate strokes. The "r" in "Worth" 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 swept capital · underlined in one return stroke

A dense and dramatic hand. The letters are packed close together.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

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

An unbroken and spare hand. Only 7 pen lifts in the whole thing.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Written at speed, and it shows in the best way.

the full name · closed with a small loop

An upright and theatrical hand. It stands almost straight up, 21 degrees off vertical. It is also one of the few here that hangs the name off the R as a stem.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

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

the full name · a swept capital · finished on a long sail

An urgent and level hand. It leans 26 degrees off vertical. It is the rare one that leaves on an exit stroke long enough to carry the eye off the page.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

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

the full name · finished on a long sail

A compact and even hand. It stays 2.2 times wider than tall, where most signatures sprawl. Almost nothing else here hangs the name off the R as a stem.

What Raven gives a designer

The capital R 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.

After the capital, Raven runs entirely at x-height — no ascenders, no tails — so the whole middle of the mark is a single calm band, and the capital and the closing gesture do all the talking.

Raven is 5 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