Thursday, February 14, 2008

Reverse Graphology, Or How To Create the Ultimate Signature

Creating a new signature is a daunting task, one that doesn't come up all that often. But when it does, you cannot make a split second decision that you'll be happy with while signing your license or passport in front of the grumpy city worker waiting to go on her break.
Why not develop a signature that a graphologist can examine and tell Mr.Potential Employer that you are not a psychopath in any way (I hope this is true, but I'm just trying to give you an edge).

If you want to appear easygoing, optimistic with realistic goals:
  • Make your letters circular
  • Keep the slant of the letters vertical or slightly forward
  • Be sure you can write fairly straight on onlined paper, angling upward if at all
  • Cross your t's high on the stem but not off
  • Maintain a steady, not-too-hard pressure on the paper
  • Keep your writing consistently medium or average sized

If your want to appear very professional and analytical, while downplaying emotion:
  • Make your letters slightly square
  • Keep the slant of the letters vertical or slanting slightly backward
  • Practice writing straight on unlined paper
  • Cross your t's high on the stem
  • Make sharp points on capital M's.
  • Keep your writing small but not tiny

If you want to appear like an artistic dreamer:
  • Make your letters squiggly and irregular
  • Keep each letter separate (but not printed)
  • Make the slant of your writing 60 to 70 degrees
  • Try to write fairly straight on unlined paper, but not rigidly so
  • Keep your writing large
  • Use heavy pressure and thick lines
  • Cross your t's lightly on the top of the stem
There you are. Create your very own (very telling) scrawl.
The question is, if you can change how you are perceived by changing your writing, can changing your writing change who you are?
Enter graphotherapy - the practice of changing a person's handwriting with the goal of changing features of his or her personality.
If your writing doesn't put you in the best light, look into that.
And then drop me a line.

1 comment:

Serena said...

I found out my backwards slanting cursive revealed "procrastinator" to the other girls that had memorized YM magazine article circa May 1997, so I adjusted. Then I remembered, hey, you used to have cool left-slanting cursive, and so I went back to it. hehe. fool'd them