Yes, this crazy scribble is my signature. And I’m proud of it!

Summary•3 min read

Docusign presents a fantastic way to preserve the very best of your signature and use it (in a legal, regulated, and binding way).

I offer this post as we quickly approach the 15th anniversary of “National eSign Day” on June 30.

I live on my computer keyboard.

I rarely use a pen or pencil anymore, and when I do, like most people, my handwriting is horrific. My signature is the perfect indicator.

Here’s what my signature looked like when I was 11 years old, when I still had to write a bunch on paper – and it had to be legible for my teacher.

Jonathan Riemer signature in neat cursive

And here’s how it looks today.

Jonathan Riemer signature slightly less legible

(I cringe to know what a handwriting expert would say about that mess!)

But at least I’m not as bad as my wife.

Before you jump down to the comment section to flame me, let me explain. She is a high school teacher. Her signature is required on everything from permission slips to hall passes to office documents. Over the years, her name has devolved into something recognizable as a mark, but not a name.

And therein lies one of the challenges from living in an analog-signature world. Those cursive loops and dips become more and more muddled with time. Not to mention all that loose paper just waiting to be lost or misfiled.

eSignature to the rescue. (You knew I had to work it in, right?)

Docusign presents a fantastic way to preserve the very best of your signature and use it (in a highly legal, regulated, and binding way) over and over and over and over again. Once your favorite version of your moniker is in your DosuSign account, you just apply it to whatever document you need – and because you’ve acknowledged that you are consenting to do business electronically – the mark you choose, whatever it may be, however it may look, is your legally enforceable “signature.”

TRY THE QUICK DEMO AND SEE FOR YOURSELF

And lastly, a quick dime-store analysis of my current signature:

Jonathan Riemer signature with 1 tall J, 2 wavy n, 3 ending

Pointy letters (my J) and letters sharply angled downward (again my J) indicate aggression (which can be good or bad).
Lapses in making individual letters legible can indicate stress and impatience (uhm, yes, get on with it).
The long line (where I am too lazy to write “…e…m…e…r.”) indicates that I have self-reliance and am assertive. If I had carefully written every letter, it could mean I was demanding attention.

NOTE: This was all gleaned from the plethora of handwriting analysis Websites I found. Just Google it.