How to create a beautiful and reliable signature
People generally fall into two categories. Some start crafting a beautiful signature months before receiving their first passport, eager to sign documents in a stylish and “grown-up” manner. Others don’t give it any thought and scribble the first thing that comes to mind. This isn’t a big deal: you can change your autograph at any time. Here’s how to create a unique personal signature using a signature generator.
What the Law Says About Personal Signatures
A personal signature is one way to identify an individual, used on paper documents. When you sign a credit agreement, a prenuptial contract, or library rules, you indicate that you’ve read and agree with the content of the papers.
The only legal requirement for a signature is that it must be handwritten by you. Other aspects are not regulated by law: you can write initials, just your first name, your full last name, illegible symbols, or patterns. Your signature can be short and simple or long and intricate. If your old signature no longer seems attractive or you’re simply tired of it, you can change it at any time.
How to Create a Beautiful and Reliable Signature
Define Your Goals
It’s one thing if you’re a celebrity who needs a flashy signature to sign autographs for fans. In that case, your signature should be beautiful and memorable. It’s entirely different if you hold a managerial position and sign dozens of important documents daily. In this situation, reliability, not beauty, should be your priority.
Focus on Reliability
It might be amusing to use a heart or smiley face instead of a signature, but it’s not secure: such a design is easy to forge. For the same reason, avoid using squiggles or printing your signature in block letters.
Follow this simple rule: the longer your autograph, the more secure it is. It’s good to include many “tricky” elements in your signature, so use underlines, curls, and symbols of different sizes.
Create a Base
Most often, a signature is based on a first name, middle name, and last name. You can use just the first name, just the last name, initials, or the first syllables. However, you don’t necessarily have to rely on your full name. You can use a pseudonym, nickname, or any other set of symbols for your signature.
If you’re struggling to come up with a beautiful signature on your own, you can draw inspiration from the autographs of famous people or use a signature generator. On a special website, you can type in your first and last name, and it will generate several autograph options. It’s not advisable to copy them exactly, but you can borrow interesting ideas.
Avoid signing with someone else’s handwriting, no matter how beautiful it may seem. If there are doubts about the authenticity of your signature on important documents, the court will order an expert analysis. Specialists will compare several samples of text written by your hand. Therefore, it’s essential that your signature reflects your personal writing style.
Add Distinctive Elements
You can add flourishes and loops, highlight certain letters of different sizes or unusual fonts, and include small drawings and patterns. The more interesting the signature, the harder it is to forge. However, don’t go overboard: you’ll have to reproduce it on all your documents.
Practice Signing Quickly
Ideally, your autograph should take no more than three to five seconds to write. If it takes you longer, you’ll need to simplify your signature and remove overly intricate details.
Will I Need to Change My Passport if I Change My Signature?
Many people believe that the signature on their passport is a sample they must replicate on all documents. Legally, this isn’t the case: the authenticity of a signature doesn’t depend on whether it matches the version of the passport. Even if you haven’t consciously changed your autograph, the way you write certain letters may evolve over time, and excess flourishes may disappear. This is normal.
Changing your signature is not a valid reason to replace your passport. The thing is, your signature isn’t the sole identifier of your identity. It alone is not sufficient for concluding important contracts and agreements. However, you shouldn’t change your signature too often to avoid unnecessary confusion in your documents.
Conclusion:
- The law doesn’t regulate how a personal signature should look. You can use your first name, last name, initials, or any other combination of letters, as well as unreadable symbols and drawings.
- Long signatures with many elements are more secure than short and simple ones because they are harder to forge. However, you must strike a balance and not make the autograph too intricate; otherwise, it will be difficult to reproduce.
- If you decide to change your signature, you don’t need to issue a new passport. You are not required to sign exactly as you did in your passport.
FURTHER READING
