April 27, 2018
National Stationery Week’s ‘Signature Sunday’ gives us a reason to reflect on the way we sign our name. You’ve probably been signing your name in the same way for years; it’s unique, easy to do and you’re pretty satisfied with it by now. Your perspective of the world, how you want to be seen by others, your social attitudes and how someone would relate to you – did you know all of these things are measurable by the way you sign your name? The art of reading handwriting is called Graphology, and it’s used to ascertain quite specific personality traits of the writer – but your signature is slightly different in terms of reading into things. The way you sign your name is a way of presenting a version of yourself to the world, both personal and public, it’s the version of yourself you would rather people see and the person you want to be.
Whilst your handwriting typically trails away from how we want it to turn out, falling back into habit and muscle memory due to the larger amount of words written, your signature writing remains largely the same throughout your life. In that respect, only a fragment of your personality can be assessed from a signature, although arguably a very concentrated fragment that indicates some of your most potent traits.
Signature writing analysis is a relatively big field, it turns out – there’s even a British Institute of Graphologists– but we thought we’d still test our skills and dabble in some scribble scrutiny of our own. We volunteered some of our team to help demonstrate how it all works especially for Signature Sunday. A notebook and pen promptly circulated the office, collecting the signatures of the entire team here at Noted in Style. Post analysis, some interesting findings were uncovered, and we’ve highlighted some of the most interesting ones for you to gauge your own signatures against.
Having conducted this extensive research for Signature Sunday, we’ve come to the conclusion that most people are likely to possess at least one of the following signature habits – and you can see visual examples of these at the bottom of this post:
1) Readability
Starting with a simple one, if you spell out your name in your signature then you are likely not to be confident that people know who you are, and want to make sure it’s clear from your signature. However, if the writer’s signature is illegible it indicates that they have a high sense of importance, and is of the opinion that they needn’t clearly print their name as everyone should be aware of who they are – if they don’t, then they are of no interest to the writer!
2) Lines that strike through the name
It’s almost as though the writer has attempted to scratch out their name when they do this which can suggest that they are heavily self-critical and unconfident and prone to a temper tantrum or two…but at least they’ve given you a warning with their signature.
3) Encircling the name
A circle around the signature – whether an exaggerated loop from the last letter or an afterthought embellishment – visually resembles its meaning; a protective cage or bubble. This could mean that the writer wants to feel protected or is particularly defensive when it comes to friends and family; they may be reserved when it comes to talking about themselves and would rather gain your trust before letting you in.
4) Scribbled writing
It may come as no surprise that a scribbled signature indicates a person in a hurry. They may actually always be running behind and have a slight issue with timekeeping, or are intent on letting you know that they are too busy to take time over a signature. Want to speak to them? Get in line!
5) The capitalization of the first initial
A capitalized first initial of a signature is indicative of someone whose self-esteem is through the roof, whilst a signature with a lower case first initial eschews the need to show how self-confident the writer is. You can assume this person is quite grounded and not a show-off. Interestingly, most of us capitalize – it’s encouraging to think that general self-confidence might be quite high!
6) Slant
A forward right slant could show an impulsive, impatient person whilst a left slanted signature could reveal a shy person who is very attached to the past. In the absence of any slant, as you might guess, the person clearly shows that they feel balanced in all aspects of their life and are probably quite a laid back person to hang out with after work. Just be wary of those who mix their slants – they may be prone to mood swings and aren’t afraid to let you know it!
Professional graphologists suggest comparing your findings with the writers’ body language for a more accurate understanding of their personality – remember, from a signature you’re only getting what the writer wantsyou to see. We haven’t looked beyond Signature Sunday yet, but judging by our chosen candidates it’s going to be difficult to break into candidate number 3’s bubble of protection and candidate number 4 looks like they’ll be hard to catch – we’ll keep you posted!
Have a go yourself and let us knowwhat you find out by tweeting us (@notedinstyle)!
