Handwriting is special and sometimes even coveted. Think of how valuable autographs are. Collecting autographs is a serious hobby to many people, whether for long-term profit or simply for the fun and excitement of having the signature of someone you admire or respect.
Can a signature alone give a glimpse into someone’s character? To a degree. Of course, it is always preferable to have a page of writing to analyze—a signature might be different from the text of a handwriting, and the longer or more varied a sample you have, the better and more accurate your view of that person and his or her character. However, interesting character revelations can often be derived from how one’s name is signed. We’ll look at some famous—and infamous—signatures later in this book, with the proviso that a signature represents a very limited sample of writing. Still, because it is the most practiced writing we create, our signature is considered our psychological calling card.
DID YOU KNOW?
January 12 is National Handwriting Day and January 6 through 12 is National Handwriting Analysis Week (sponsored by the American Association of Handwriting Analysts and the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation). Celebrate it write!
Handwriting in the Computer Age
In our current information age, more and more people are using computers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to communicate. Instead of writing in longhand, we’re typing out our term papers, business reports, or novels using word-processing programs on computers. Instead of drafting handwritten letters to friends in other cities and countries, we now text message or e-mail. While all this makes communication faster and life a lot easier, it means there’s a lot less old-fashioned writing going on. And e-mail is not a living expression of the writer, nor does it become a keepsake of the author.
Some computer programs will create a font that replicates your handwriting or signature. You’ve probably even noticed that your paycheck now has a computer-generated signature rather than the real thing. If you’ve ever used a personal digital assistant (like the Palm), you’ve probably seen the software called Graffiti, which turns your handwritten strokes into letters (albeit not always as accurately as you’d like). And the Tablet PC is a developing technology in which a digital pen can be used on a tablet or screen to turn your written words into printed language on the computer. Microsoft’s CEO, Bill Gates, believes that the Tablet PC “will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.”
There are also computer programs that claim to analyze your handwriting in moments. Though some programs can help the professional graphologist expedite the input and output of information, the student of graphology or layperson wanting to understand how to read handwriting would best do it the old-fashioned way—by reading books written by serious professionals, taking classes, and collecting and studying actual handwriting samples. The more you study and interpret, the better at it you will become.
Without real handwriting and a knowledgeable professional doing the analysis, there is no accounting for accuracy.
It is widely believed that no computer program existing today can consistently pick up all the nuances in a handwriting sample, or provide the personal insights and reliable instincts of a trained professional. Would you want your doctor to make a diagnosis about an illness based purely on your filling out a questionnaire, without the benefit of an in-person examination?
Nothing will ever take the place of the intimacy that a personal, handwritten note or signature delivers. Imagine getting a romantic love letter printed in Times Roman. Or not signing your five-year-old’s birthday card, “Love, Mom” or “Love, Dad.” There will always be times when writing by hand will be appropriate or simpler. As we forge into the future, our identities might become as impersonal as keypunches in a giant data bank, but our signatures will still be uniquely our own.
1. International Graphology Conference, University of Zuirich, October 1998.
2. The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 1988.
CHAPTER 2
Different Strokes for Different Folks
UNDERSTANDING WRITING STYLES AND TECHNIQUES
Each handwriting is as unique as a thumbprint. It is an outward reflection of one’s inner character. There are many attributes to consider when analyzing a handwriting sample: margins, spacing, zones, size, connectivity, strokes, slants, movement, rhythm, regularity, speed, and pressure. Each of these will be outlined and described in this chapter.
THE SAYING “MIND YOUR P’s AND Q’s” has a far different meaning to a professional graphologist than it might to the rest of us. After reading just a few lines of a person’s handwriting, a skilled graphologist can form a very clear picture of the writer’s personality, strengths, and weaknesses.
How can you use that same source of information to better understand what makes the people in your life tick? Well, you can start by familiarizing yourself with the various handwriting elements. These include the margins, spacing, size and form of letters, how the letters connect, slant, movement, speed, the pressure of the stroke on the page, and more. Knowledge of these elements and what they say about character will help you build
accurate “personality profiles” of the people with whom you come in contact. The more you understand the people in your life, the better you’ll know how to relate to them!
Let’s take a closer look at the factors that make up the whole pattern of a handwriting and what each of these factors tells us about the writer.
How It Looks on a Page
All writing starts with a blank page. Ten people can each be given a blank sheet of paper to write on, and each person will fill that page with writing in a different way.
We consciously try to keep our handwriting consistent in the first line or two. But as our thoughts about what we’re writing become more important than how we’re writing, our writing pattern becomes a lot more unconscious and revealing. Thus, the way we—or any writer—use space on a page allows initial insight into character, habits, and life patterns. In general, the overall form or pattern of the margins, lines, and words on a page reveals the writer’s capacity to channel energy into goals.
Margins
A margin is the perimeter that frames a page of writing. When you type a document on a computer, your word-processing program opens with preset margins that are usually at least one inch all around, so that your document looks symmetrical on a page and has enough border to be easy on the eyes. But when you write a letter, essay, or report by hand, you don’t possess that computerlike precision; the placement of your words on the page is uniquely yours and an innate reflection of who you are and where you are going.
DID YOU KNOW?
Studies have proven that if you write in the dark, you cannot keep a consistent margin!
Let’s take a look at the types of margins and what they say about the personality of the writer.
Margins Around Page
Depending