With the advancement of technology, many businesses have elected to scan signatures to be included at the closing of their personalized letters. However, this process can be more complicated than it may initially appear. This page will reveal a few tricks to help you achieve crisp and clean signatures to include for your letters.

First, let us address some of the problems that can arise when scanning. No paper is ever completely white. It always contains some degree of granulation and discolouration so that when an image is scanned it may have a background that is not completely white, as occurs in the following sample image:

When this signature was scanned, the scanner read most of the background (the paper) as being a colour which, while it was close to white, was not actually pure white. Thus, the image ends up having a light greyish background rather than a white background. This is not always as noticeable as with the above image, which has been darkened in order to clearly show the background, but even shades of grey so bright that they appear white on the computer screen can result in a shaded background when printing.

A similar problem can occur with the actual signature itself. In the same way that a scanner reads the paper as being many different shades of 'white,' so to does a signature written in black ink contain many different shades of 'black.' When it is scanned, most of the signature will likely be registered as a dark grey and the edges of the signature will likely be blended with the whitish background. When signatures like this are printed they often appear blurry or pixilated.

Here are some tips to help fix or avoid these problems. These tips assume that the letter into which the signature is being inserted is created in Microsoft Word 97 or 2000.

1. Scan big. A large image will be helpful for a number of reasons. But don't overdo it. There is no need to scan at 1600dpi, and such a massive image will likely tax your system resources.
2. If possible, set your scanner to scan in black and white. Note that this is not the same as greyscale, which transforms all colours into corresponding shades of grey. Black and white only uses true black and true white. Thus, any colour closer to white will be scanned as pure white, and any colour closer to black will be scanned as pure black.
3. If you cannot scan in black and white, or already have a scanned signature that you are wanting to work with, then, using a graphics application, convert the image to black and white.

   Note that converting to black and white can require some preliminary work. If the signature has some lighter sections in its lines, where the ink does not fully cover the paper, for example, converting to black and white might cause these sections to turn to white rather than black, creating unwanted holes or gaps in the signature.

   To avoid this problem, adjust the brightness and contrast of the image. Turn the contrast up. This will brighten the light colours and darken the darker colours, hopefully making the lines of the signature darker.

   If some parts of the signature lighten rather than darken, try lowering the brightness. The background will also darken, but, as long as the image is not overly darkened this can be fixed by turning up the contrast again.

   Since every scanner and every image is different, it is impossible to lay out an exact process for adjusting brightness and contrast. Finding the right combination will be a matter of experimentation, so be sure to save a copy of the image before making any adjustments so that you have something to return to if your adjustments do not yield the desired results.

   If adjusting brightness and contrast does not work, it may be necessary to very carefully go over parts of the signature with the pen or paintbrush tool, using black or a dark grey. However, as this is a very sensitive process, requiring a steady hand, this is only recommended for those who are familar and comfortable with their graphics package.

   Once the lines of the signature are uniformly dark and the background is uniformly bright, the image is ready to be converted into black and white. The signature should now look something like this:

4. Once the image has been converted to black and white, it can be inserted into the letter document, in the appropriate place. Depending on the size of the image, Word will scale it to fit the page. This is where having a large image becomes helpful because as Word reduces the size of the image it also smooths the edges.
5. When you print the letter, the signature should be entirely black, with crisp, clean lines.

This process is by no means unique to signature graphics. The same basic principles can be applied to other simple black and white graphics, such as postal indicias or simple company logos.

If any of these recommendations prove to be beyond the capabilities of your graphics software, please contact us at Highland Marketing, and we will be happy to scan or manipulate your signature before printing your letters.

Please note that the instructions and explanations contained herein are based on methods that have been successfully employed by Highland Marketing in the past, through the use of software packages owned by Highland Marketing. These methods are provided as suggestions only, and Highland Marketing makes no guarantee as to their success in all situations or with all software packages.

The signature displayed above was invented for the purpose of example. It does not belong to any real individual. Resemblance to any real individual’s name or signature is purely coincidental.

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