How To Write Your Signature
A good signature should suit your personal and professional needs while representing your style and self-image. Not only should you have a handwritten signature for physical documents, but as electronic documents continue to become more common in professional settings, it’s also important to know how to write a signature electronically.
Learning how to write your signature will ensure you are prepared the next time you need to sign an important document or close a deal. To help you do this, let’s take a closer look at common types of signatures, their purposes, and how you can make and write your own signature.
Common Types of Signatures
Not all documents come on paper. There are several types of signatures you may need to use depending on the circumstances, including handwritten signatures, electronic signatures, signature images, and email signatures.
Handwritten signatures
Handwritten, or wet ink, signatures are best for physical documents. They can consist of your first and last name, initials, or anything else that can be used to identify you.
When writing a handwritten signature, you should consider the image you want your signature to convey. Choose a style that represents you. You might consider researching examples online to find a style that you like and add your own personal flair to it.
Electronic signatures
Electronic signatures allow people to sign documents online, helping them save time and money by avoiding physical documents and materials.
Electronic signatures are legally binding, and online platforms like jSign make it easy for users to quickly create a custom electronic signature and sign documents online. Electronic signatures are perfect for signing PDFs and other documents without needing access to printers or fax machines.
Once your electronic signature is ready to go, you can use jSign to create and sign documents online, send documents to others for signing, and store documents for future use.
Email signatures
Email signatures are typically displayed at the bottom of email messages. They are most often used in professional settings, but can also be used in your personal emails.
In professional settings, email signatures are often accompanied by a company logo and are written in the company’s style to maintain a consistent brand image across all lines of communication. It will usually include your professional title and name.
If you are using a personal email signature, it only needs to contain your name as these messages are often more casual in nature.
Signature images
Signature images are essentially a combination of handwritten signatures and electronic signatures. To create a signature image, you simply take a photo of your handwritten signature (or scan your signature), then use a photo editing app like Photoshop to remove the background.
After removing the background, you can insert your signature image into digital documents just like you would with an electronic signature.
Choose a Signature Style
To create a signature, it’s important to choose a signature style that best represents you.
Signature style consists of several elements, including:
- Handwriting
- Size
- Spacing
- Legibility
- Completeness
Your signature may consist of your full name, your initials, your first initial and your last name, or any other combination of your name and initials.
If you want your signature to be bold and recognizable, you might choose to use large letters and write your signature with plenty of pressure to create darker lines. Alternatively, you might prefer to keep it simple by writing your initials in basic cursive without any flair.
If you’re creating an electronic signature with a platform like jSign, you can choose to upload a photo of your signature, use a digital signing pad to write your signature, or select from a variety of pre-made signature templates. With the latter option, you can simply choose a style that you like and type your name.
How to Make Your Own Signature with jSign
With jSign, you can make your own signature in just a few clicks by choosing one of four signature creation methods.
1. Draw your signature
Using a phone, tablet, or another touchscreen device, you can draw your electronic signature with your finger or a stylus.
This option gives you full control over how your signature looks and makes it easy to replicate your handwritten signature for digital documents.
2. Choose a signature template
jSign also gives users the option to choose from a variety of signature templates. If you’re not particularly concerned about having an entirely unique signature, this option provides a quick way to create an electronic signature for online documents.
Simply scroll through the templates, choose the one that you like the most, type your signature, and save it for future use.
3. Use a signing pad
If you have access to a digital signing pad, you can use a stylus to draw your handwritten signature for digital use. Just like drawing your signature using a smartphone or tablet, this gives you full control over the final outcome, making it easier to create a signature that’s unique to you.
4. Upload a picture
If you already have a handwritten signature that you’re fond of, you can snap a picture of it with your phone and upload it to jSign.
Doing this allows you to use your handwritten signature to sign documents online. This can be a great option for individuals who want to maintain a consistent image when signing both physical and digital documents.
Sign Documents Online With jSign
While handwritten signatures certainly still have their place, more and more people are continuing to recognize the convenience and efficiency offered by electronic signatures and digital documents.
With jSign, you can:
- Create custom electronic signatures.
- Create new documents and document templates with just a few clicks.
- Add signing fields to documents.
- Send documents to as many signers as needed.
- Set alerts and reminders.
- Track document changes to ensure the validity of signatures.
- Store and organize digital documents for future reference.
- Organize and manage your contacts for seamless collaboration.
jSign is available as a limited free trial featuring all of its capabilities, and paid plans start at just $9.99 a month. Join today to start signing documents online!
