Signature generator: which kind gives you a real signature you can write by hand?

What is a signature generator?

“Signature generator” is used for any tool that produces a signature-like image or form from your name. It's an umbrella term covering three quite different things, each made for a different job.

• Font-based name images. You type your name, pick a handwriting-style font and get an image. Quick, but it's typing, not your hand.
• Drawing pads for e-signing. You draw your existing signature with a mouse, finger or stylus and get it back as an image or placed in a document. It records; it doesn't design.
• Signature designers. They design a new, hand-writable signature from the letters of your name and teach you to write it. This is the kind that gives you a signature that comes out the same on paper, with a pen.

Before choosing, decide what it's for: signing a PDF quickly, the bottom of an email, or a new signature you'll use for years on contracts, ID documents and at the bank.

1. Font-based generators: a quick name image

These are the most common. You type your name, the tool shows it in ten or twenty handwriting fonts, you pick one and download it. For a decorative name, the bottom of an invitation or a quick mock-up, that can be enough.

• The upside: it's ready in seconds and you can try lots of moods.
• The catch: anyone can produce the same image with the same font, so it isn't unique.
• Hard to write by hand: font letters are drawn one by one, not as a single flowing line, so they rarely come out the same with a pen.
• No teaching: you never learn the order, direction or pace of the strokes.

If one of those images appeals to you, use it as a starting point: it tells you which slant, capitals and loops you like. As a signature, it only works once you've translated it into your own hand.

2. Drawing pads: your existing signature as an image

The second kind doesn't really generate anything; it records. You draw your current signature on a pad with a mouse, finger or stylus and get it back as an image or dropped straight into a PDF. Most e-signing services and PDF readers use a pad like this.

You need one when a document has to be signed quickly on your computer or phone. We cover how to do it step by step in this article, and on a phone in a separate guide. A pad doesn't improve anything, though: if your signature is shaky on paper, it will be shakier on a screen.

3. Signature designers: a new signature you write yourself

The third kind starts where a good signature designer would: it builds a form from the letters of your name that can be written in one flowing movement, and shows you how. The result isn't an image to paste in, but a signature you learn, and from then on write the same way anywhere, with a pen, on paper.

Three things matter here: that it's really drawn for your name (not your name typed over a ready-made template), that it starts from human handwriting, and that it teaches you, because a designed signature only becomes yours once your hand has learnt it.

Which one do you need?

• You need to sign a PDF right now: a drawing pad. Record your existing signature and you're done.
• You want a signature image for your emails: ideally that should be your own signature too. How to set up an email signature is here.
• You want a new signature because yours is a scribble or you don't like it: a signature designer. It's the one that gives you something you'll write the same way on paper for years.
• You're looking for your first signature (first ID, first bank card): a designer, with a simple, legible form. There's a separate article on that.
• You only want inspiration: browse signature ideas by style before you generate anything.

What to look for in a signature generator

Before you type your name into any site, run through these seven checks. A few seconds will tell you whether you're getting an image or a signature.

1. 1
   Is it drawn for your name, or typed in a font? If every name comes out in the same set of letters, it's a font. A designer builds each name differently.
2. 2
   Can you write the result by hand? Check whether the line breaks up or flows in one movement. What a pen can't do is just decoration.
3. 3
   Does it teach you? Without stroke order, direction and pace, a design stays a nice picture.
4. 4
   Is there a more legible and a shorter version? You need one form for contracts and one for small boxes. More on legibility here.
5. 5
   Does it show several styles? A good tool shows the same name elegant, clean and dynamic, so you have a real choice.
6. 6
   Does it assess your current signature? If you know what's weak (legibility, speed, balance), you can improve it on purpose.
7. 7
   What happens to your signature image? Your signature is personal data. Check what the site stores and how to delete it. The basics of protecting it are in this article.

How Calligra works

Calligra is a signature designer, the third kind. It runs in the browser on your phone and computer, with nothing to download. It takes four steps.

1. 1
   Type your name. The name you sign with, or someone else's if you're designing one as a gift.
2. 2
   Sign the way you do now. With your finger, on the screen. You get a score on five criteria straight away, with the reasons.
3. 3
   Pick a style. From more than 30 celeb styles, such as Movie star, Prima donna, Influencer, Diplomat or Monogram, with or without an underline. The app draws it for your name in real, human handwriting; if you don't like it, ask again, and every drawing is different.
4. 4
   Learn it. We break it into eight steps at most, show it in an animation you can slow down, and the practice pad scores every try.

Your designed signatures are saved to your profile, so you can come back to them and practise any time. Try it with your name: it takes a few minutes to see your name as a real signature.

What the score measures: the five criteria

We score your current signature out of 100 and explain every number. The same five criteria are worth keeping in mind even if you design on your own.

• Legibility: can at least the start of your name or the capital be read?
• Uniqueness: is there a form in it that's only yours, rather than a generic scribble?
• Elegance: how clean are the lines, how deliberate is the finish?
• Balance: are capitals, small letters and finish in proportion, or does the line fall apart?
• Speed: can you write it in one go, without hesitating? In real life a signature is always written quickly.

Can you use what a generator gives you officially?

The short answer: your own handwritten signature, yes; a font image, not everywhere. A signature is yours because you write it. A form drawn by a designer that you've learnt and write with a pen can be used like any other signature. A downloaded font image isn't handwriting, and whether a particular e-signing system or institution accepts it depends on the system and the country.

After the generator: practice makes it yours

Whichever route gets you to a form, the real work comes after: a few minutes a day until your hand writes it without thinking. Slowly at first, following the stroke order, then faster, then in small spaces. The full practice plan is here.

If you'd rather design on your own, the step-by-step guide takes you through it, and if you're curious how the letters of your name shape the design, read how to make a signature for your name.

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