mb — a monogram written in one stroke

A personal mark for Mikita Byshniou (mbyshniou.com). The “mb” monoline is written in a single, unbroken motion — the pen never leaves the paper. That one gesture is the whole soul of the mark: it's a signature, not an icon.

Category
Logo & identity
Year
2026
Role
Mark, animation, print preparation
Status
Shipped

The mark draws itself

Hover the mark, or click, to write it again

Concept

The mark is a small “mb” folded into one line: the two arches of the “m” and the “b” share a single tall stem. The whole thing can be written in one stroke — the pen starts at the foot of the left leg and never lifts until the final upstroke.

It isn't decoration. The owner builds websites end to end — a mark that “signs itself” in a single gesture says exactly that: the whole job start to finish, by one hand.

Construction

A monoline of constant weight on a 136-unit grid, every cap and join rounded. No fills — just the contour.

An “m” cannot be written without lifting the pen, so the middle leg is retraced twice — down and back up along the exact same line, which makes the return invisible. That's the only backtrack; the rest is one continuous motion.

Design decisions

One gesture

The pen never lifts: the “m”, down the last leg and straight into the “b”. The order of the stroke is the point of the mark, so the animation traces exactly that path.

A clean line at rest

While writing, the mark is drawn as one continuous stroke, but once it settles it's built from three separate strokes — so in every browser, Safari included, the line keeps the same weight, with no doubling on the middle leg.

One colour, any background

The mark inherits the text colour (currentColor): ink on light, paper on dark, gold as an accent. A single file fits everywhere, with no manual edits.

From 16 px to print

The same form reads as a 16 px favicon and as a mark on a business card. A heavier line weight is prepared for the smallest sizes.

Variants

InkPrimary — on light
PaperOn dark backgrounds
GoldAccent, embossing
FaviconHeavier — on a tile

Where it lives on the site

  • Preloader — the mark writes itself full-screen before the veil lifts.
  • Header — it writes on entry and re-draws on hover.
  • Footer — it writes once you scroll down to it.
  • The “thank you” screen after the form — the mark as a signature on the deal.

Palette

Ink#1C1A17
Paper#F2EEE3
Gold#A6874F

How it was made

  1. Monogram sketches — joining the “m” and “b” onto one shared, tall stem.

  2. Monoline construction on a grid; one continuous contour with an invisible retrace of the middle leg.

  3. The drawing animation in plain CSS (stroke-dashoffset), respecting the “reduce motion” setting.

  4. Colour variants and a dedicated version for dark backgrounds.

  5. A favicon set (adaptive SVG + 32 / 180 / 512 px PNG) and social avatars.

  6. Business card: CMYK print preparation with bleed and crop marks.

What was delivered

  • Master vector (SVG): ink, gold, dark-background version
  • PNG exports at 512 / 1024 / 2048 px
  • Animated SVG — the self-drawing mark, for web, video and decks
  • Favicon set (SVG + 32 / 180 / 512 px) and social avatars
  • Print-ready business card (CMYK, 3 mm bleed)
  • React component with the writing animation (used on this page)
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