Friday, June 5, 2020

I see signatures every day

They're supposed to be, or should be, your unique mark.  How you sign sends a message about you and how you view and interact with the world.  I try to make mine both readable and personal.  It's fun to try to develop a signature that both the test of simple communication and conveyance of personality.

I've worked with two talented guys over the decades that have adopted the meaningless squiggle as their signature - sending, I guess, the message that they're just to busy and rushed to do anything else.

I've tried both times without success to change their minds.

Here's a great example of signature done properly (my opinion only):


Signature of King Alexander II of Kakheti, in the Georgian Mkhredruli script, with the divider ⟨჻⟩
ჴლმწიფე ჻ ალექსანდრე

"The sovereign Alexander"

Once you see that, you know who it is that signed it.

Very artistic and personal, if not immediately readable, unless you are Georgian. 

7 comments:

  1. I use a meaningless squiggle for credit card purchases, and a tight legible signature on documents that will be filed and retained

    anybody who gets hold of a credit card signature thinking he can cash a check with it will get schooled in court.

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  2. There's a famous story about the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, a notorious cheapskate. He would dine out with large parties of friends and then pay the tab with a check that he would add sketches to, in addition to his signature - betting (correctly) that the restaurantuer would never cash them.

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    1. On the other hand, I'll bet that one of those checks with his sketches would go for ten or twenty times the cost of the dinner, at auction.

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    2. It's like he traded his art work for a meal, a win for both!

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    3. It was said Moe Howard did something similar, and paid for everything by check.

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  3. Having an unpronounceable name makes my illegible signature seem like some sort of natural progression.

    I get these a lot: "Are you a doctor?" "Is that Japanese?" and "That looks like Arabic!" I used to have to sign my name dozens of times a day and it just became like that - can't say it was much different than how water cuts a path of least resistance.

    Now with these electronic signatures and even worse, the pen pads for credit cards, I don't see the point of a signature anymore. We should just use fingerprint readers but I have to admit I'd like to give that Georgian signature a try the next time I'm in line at the Safeway.

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