Big, small, huge, curvy, darker, lighter, barely visible, I’ve seen them all. I actually prefer a shorter one. The longer they are the more time they take and it’s really about efficiency. Get it down, finish it, and on to the next one. If it takes more than a few seconds or requires some sort of prior knowledge about the person to appreciate, I’m not down. That said, something I haven’t seen before adds to the excitement and gets me thinking whether I really know what I want. What if mine isn’t up to snuff? Your Hancock says a lot about you, so maybe I need to make a revision or two. Let’s digress –
What Your Hancock Says About You?
The classic sales test, "Sell me this pen," is a long-time demarcation of one's ability to be a great salesperson by spinning a mundane object into a tenant of one's existence. This test was popularized in the Wolf of Wall Street, a movie idolizing a notorious penny-stock trader, Jordan Belfort, through the charisma of Leonardo DiCaprio. The correct way to approach this question is to discover the motive behind the person buying the pen, but one of the most common answers plays off of the importance that a pen can have during the most crucial points of one's life - singing a check, closing a deal, signing a marriage certificate...or maybe even a divorce. Who would want to sign these documents, which signal a crucial decision, with a basic-as* BIC. As an extrapolation of this idea, there is a small segment of psychology that collaborates with graphologists to decipher this small art.
A signature arguably reveals even more about a person than their handshake, hair-style, outfit choice, career choice, or the “frozen-in-time” school photo positioned on their parent’s mantle – 50 years from now the future of mankind will only remember me through my eighth grade photo with acne spelling “loser” across my forehead. Seeing the importance of my signature in life, I spent an excessive amount of time devising my signature and gauging the different inherent impressions my signature may have in the business world. I chose to use my initials instead of the intricate flourishes that you may see from celebrities or John Hancock himself, mainly due to my lack of dexterity. The set of initials are large, Walt-Disney-esque, letters with the second initial, S, being a dollar sign. This was the only way I could distract any reader from the initials themselves which are not too flattering *proceeds to rack brain for combinations of words with a B and S*. Occasionally, often for a more formal need, I will write out the rest of my name inside the bottom loops of my initials. The thought here being that the more inputs on my formal signature the more difficult it is to copy. What does your signature look? Is there a mush of illegible squiggles? A message or picture tied to your name? An exact copy of each letter ripped from the pages of Cursive for Dummies? Is this how you want your signature to look or have you just been doing it for so long that you could not imagine it any other way? If you ever want to create a different impression, here are a few broad attributes for each type of signature:
Signature curves upward – Ambition, optimist, creativity
Signature curves downward – Skeptic, pessimist
Signature is straight across – Organized and self-sufficient
Large signature – High confidence, possibly to the point of narcissism
Small signature – As you could have guessed, low confidence, timid
Illegible – Quick witted, Results-Oriented (actions speak louder than words)
Detailed/Legible – Organized
Initials – Secretive, efficient, introvert
Nickname - Friendly, self-esteem, independent
Image – Creative and forward thinking
Try writing your signature in a different way. If it is small, try a larger signature. Illegible, try writing out each letter. Does that seem natural? Uncomfortable? Does it reinforce your original reasoning?
- Adulting Co-Founder, Brian Scott
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