Signature ideas

Six signature directions for Stella

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

Drawn in stages, the way a considered mark is.

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

A generous and level hand. It spends 33 loops getting through your name. It is also one of the few here that lays a line back underneath the name. The double "l" in "Stella" goes down as one motion, so the middle of the name never stops.

Confident · flowing · signature-legible

No letter shouts over another, which is rarer than it sounds.

the full name · finished on a long sail

A dramatic and urgent hand. The stroke swells and thins by a factor of 3.2.

Commanding · sharp · signature-legible

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

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

A long-running and rounded hand. It runs 6.1 times wider than it is tall.

Confident · sharp · fully readable

Generous with its loops, and unembarrassed about it.

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

A compact and even hand. It stays 2.3 times wider than tall, where most signatures sprawl. It is also one of the few here that ties off with a small loop instead of flying away. The "r" in "Worth" is the letter carrying it, because that is where your hand is already fastest.

Understated · sharp · signature-legible

Tightly massed, so it holds together small.

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

A theatrical and level hand. One letter is pushed well past the proportions of its neighbors.

Commanding · flowing · fully readable

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

the full name · underlined in one return stroke

An upright and deliberate hand. It stands almost straight up, 20 degrees off vertical. Almost nothing else here lays a line back underneath the name.

What Stella 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.

After that, the lowercase run does the work: the t and l reach into the ascender line, which gives the mark its upper silhouette and the double l is a rhythm no other letter pair gives — two identical strokes that must agree.

At 6 letters, Stella sits in the comfortable middle — long enough to build rhythm, short enough to stay one uninterrupted gesture.

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