Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Rigoberto

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

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

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A compact and restrained hand. It stays 3.0 times wider than tall, where most signatures sprawl. It is also one of the few here that hangs the name off the R as a stem. The "g" in "Rigoberto" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

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

the full name · closed with a small loop

An unbroken and spare hand. Only 7 pen lifts in the whole thing. It is the rare one that hangs the name off the R as a stem.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A grand and dense hand. The capital stands 2.7 times the height of the letters after it.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

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

An even and rounded hand. It holds one weight almost the whole way through. It is also one of the few here that runs a long swept approach into the R.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

the full name · 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

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

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A grand and measured hand. The capital stands 2.9 times the height of the letters after it.

What Rigoberto 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.

The rest of the name sets the terrain: the b and t reach into the ascender line, which gives the mark its upper silhouette, the g drops below the baseline — a tail a designer can turn into an underline or let hang and the dotted i leaves a mark above the line that a fast hand turns into a flick.

A 9-letter name rewards economy: the directions below keep the capital and the final stroke emphatic and let the middle travel.

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