The letters extending below the baseline belong to the lower zone. These include the letters f, g, j, p, q, y, and z. The lower zone is a deeply personal area, focusing on the writer’s material needs, primal instincts, creative drive, and search for answers to life’s perplexing questions. It can also reveal hidden aggression.
Average Lower Zone
This zone represents the unconscious as well. An accented lower zone represents a strong search for fulfillment and material rewards. It also indicates sexuality, personal needs, and a search for roots. The lower zone represents the traits most often hidden from others, or what Freud would call the id. While the middle zone represents the conscious, the lower zone represents that which is below our threshold of consciousness and can also reveal a person’s dark side.
If the lower zone is inflated and the middle zone small, it can mean that areas of energy—such as fantasies or frustrations—are not adequately channeled into reality.
Inflated Upper Zone
DID YOU KNOW?
The lowercase f is the only letter that extends into all three zones.
Size Matters
In writing, size does matter! The pattern of the writing and the way it is spread over the page represent how much emotional and physical space the writer demands. The height shows the need for recognition and aspirations, and the horizontal expansion shows the need for self-expression. Small handwriting indicates someone who is not concerned with what others think and one who can work alone in highly detailed, often demanding fields in which she can play a contributing role. This is in no way, however, an indication of strength and self-worth.
What’s Average?
How do you gauge what’s big and what’s small? Start at the middle! In general, a handwriting is considered average size when letters in the middle zone measure about 3 millimeters high, the upper zone letters measure 6 millimeters from the baseline to the top of the loop, and the lower zone letters measure about 6 millimeters from baseline to the bottom of the loop.
Medium Size Writing
Writing that is medium or average size is the norm for most people, but size can change with age, moods, stress, illness, or medication.
Average Writing
Qualities
• Focused
• Well adjusted
• Good social skills
• Realistic
• Plays by the rules
Large Writing
Qualities
• Enthusiastic
• Extravagant
• Proud
• Entrepreneurial
• Bold
• Independent
• Action-oriented
• Needing attention
Small Legible Writing
Qualities
• Pragmatic
• Modest
• Dutiful
• Objective
• Good concentration and focus
Uneven Writing Size
Qualities
• Varying responses to situations
• Uneven self-esteem
• Over- or underestimation of self-worth
How Do You Connect?
When we write in script, words are formed by joining one letter to another. We further join them by making an upstroke or a downstroke. The point at which we join each letter to another is called a connection, and the style with which we make those connections is called connective form. The connective form reveals a lot about emotions, energy, and flexibility.
Handwriting is primarily made up of four connective forms: the garland, arcade, angle, and thread, and sometimes a combination of forms.
The Garland
The garland is the most common form of the writing connectors and also the easiest to create. The garland’s u form resembles an open cup and has a lovely, fluid rhythm. The way to recognize the garland, particularly in the m and the n, is to notice if the letter is curved at the bottom and pointed at the top. And because it represents an open cup, the garland allows stimuli to enter from the outside and, in particular, from the upper zone, representing the intellect. But it closes out stimulation from the lower zone, which means that the writer is open to his emotional, creative, and intellectual level. The garland form indicates a person who is adaptable, tolerant, straightforward, and good-natured. This is a person who is open to outside influences, likes nature, and can be a good mediator in conflict resolution.
A strong garland, which has a wide curve on the bottom, indicates these qualities:
• Flexible
• Talkative
• Tolerant
• Good-natured
A weak garland, which is often narrow and does not show a strong, regular curve on the bottom, indicates these qualities:
• Unstable
• Unable to concentrate
• Naïve
• Acquiescent
• Insincere
The Arcade
The arcade is the reverse of the garland connection. It resembles a cup turned upside down. The arcade is rounded at the top of the middle zone and angled along the baseline. It is a connective form that is slower in creation and movement. The arcade requires more caution and less spontaneity because you need control to produce it. It shows secretiveness and reserve. Writers of this form are less likely to be influenced by their emotions