Service
Signatures written in real ink
A letter without a signature is unfinished, and a printed signature under handwritten text is worse than none at all. We write the signature with a second pen, in a second ink, the way a signature actually gets onto a page.
How it works
You supply a sample signature - a few repetitions on plain paper, photographed or scanned. We build a stroke path from it, and every letter in the run is signed with a pen following that path, with the same small variations from piece to piece as the body text.
It is added as an option to any letter or card: $0.15 per piece. Add it in the calculator.
Where we draw the line
Autopen machines have a long and slightly notorious history of signing things they arguably should not have, which is why the word turns up in political news more often than in marketing. That history is here. It is also why we are explicit about our own boundary.
We sign correspondence. Letters, cards, notes, compliments slips - pieces where the signature is a courtesy that says a named person stands behind the message.
We do not sign instruments. Contracts, deeds, guarantees, cheques, statutory declarations, certifications, or anything where a signature is legal evidence of assent. We will decline that work, and we will decline it even if you own the signature.
We also require written authority from the signatory themselves - not from their marketing team, their assistant or their agency.
What we need from the signatory
- Six to ten repetitions on unlined white paper, in a pen they would normally sign with. More is better than fewer: a stroke path built from two samples reproduces whatever was unusual about those two.
- Signed at normal speed. A signature written slowly and carefully for the purpose does not look like the same person’s signature, because it is not - the speed is most of the character.
- A flat scan or a square-on photograph in good light. Not at an angle, not through a phone case.
- Written authority from the signatory. Not their assistant, not their agency, not the person commissioning the campaign. This is the one we will not move on.
Which letters are worth signing
Not all of them, and a signature on the wrong piece is worse than no signature. The test is whether a named person is genuinely standing behind the message.
- Worth it: thank-you notes, referral acknowledgements, apologies, matter or project completions, letters to a customer the signatory has actually dealt with, and reactivation letters, where the whole point is that a person noticed somebody had gone.
- Not worth it: cold prospecting at volume. A signature from someone the recipient has never heard of adds nothing, and if the campaign is large enough the same signature turning up across a suburb is a worse look than a printed sign-off would have been.
For a standing retention programme, the signature is usually what makes the monthly batch feel like correspondence rather than output - which is the whole reason to run one.
A printed signature is the thing to avoid
The common alternative is dropping a scanned signature image into the artwork and printing it with the letter. It is cheap and it undoes the rest of the work: the ink is the same as the body text, it sits flat on the surface, and it is identical on every piece - which is exactly what a recipient notices when two people compare their letters. If the signature is going to be printed, it is better to type the name and leave it honest.
Questions about signatures
Can you reproduce a specific person’s signature?
We can work from a supplied sample, with the written authority of the person whose signature it is. We will not reproduce a signature on the say-so of someone else in the organisation, and we will not do it at all for anything that looks like a contract, a cheque, a deed or a statutory document.
What will you not sign?
Anything with legal effect. Contracts, deeds, guarantees, financial instruments, statutory declarations, medical or legal certifications, and anything where a signature is evidence rather than courtesy. This is correspondence only, and the line is not negotiable.
Is a machine-written signature legally valid?
That is a question for your lawyer about your specific document, and the answer varies by jurisdiction and instrument type. We do not offer signing services for documents where the answer matters - see the previous answer.
Why sign in a different ink?
Because that is what happens in life. A letter written at one moment and signed at another, often with whatever pen was nearest, has two inks. Matching them exactly is one of the small details that makes a piece read as manufactured.
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Add a signature to your campaign
It is a per-piece option on any letter or card. Tell us whose signature it is and we will explain what we need to set it up.