Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Silas

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 S · hover one to see it in use

Understated · flowing · fully readable

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

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A level and generous hand. The capital is only 1.7 times the height of the letters after it. It is also one of the few here that lays a line back underneath the name. The "r" in "Worth" 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.

both names in one unbroken line · finished on a long sail

An angular and restrained hand. The turns are cut rather than curved. It is the rare one that runs both names together as one word.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

Pressure where it presses, hairline where it lifts.

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

A grand and dense hand. The capital stands 3.0 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here runs a long swept approach into the S.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

One weight the whole way through, which is what makes it read as modern.

the full name · closed with a small loop

An airy and upright hand. The letters are set well apart. It is also one of the few here that ties off with a small loop instead of flying away.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

It leans into the page, the way a hand in a hurry does.

the full name · finished on a long sail

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

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

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

A grand and airy hand. The capital stands 3.1 times the height of the letters after it. Almost nothing else here runs a long swept approach into the S.

What Silas gives a designer

The capital S 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.

5 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.

Other names