Over the past couple of years I received quite a number of requests to typeset and modify tattoos using Burgues Script or Adios. At first the whole idea was amusing to me, kind of like an inside joke. I had worked in corporate branding for a few years before becoming a type designer, and suddenly I was being asked to get involved in personal branding, as literally "personal" and "branding" as the expression can get.
After a few such requests I began pondering the whole thing from a professional perspective. It was typography, after all, no matter how unusual the method or medium. A very personal kind of typography, too. The messages being typeset were commemorating friends, family, births, deaths, loves, principles, and things that influenced people in a deep and direct way, so much so that they chose to etch that influence on their bodies and wear it forever.
After digging into the tattooing scene, I have a whole new respect for tattoo artists. [Although] Some artists go the extra mile and take the time to develop their own lettering for tattooing purposes most tattoo artists use generic type designs to typeset words.
There have been quite a few attempts at making [tattoo], but as far as I could tell a stylish skin script was never attempted in the digital age. And that's why I decided to design Piel Script. Piel is Spanish for skin.
In a way, Piel Script is a removed cousin of Burgues Script. Although the initial sketches were infused with some 1930s showcard lettering ideas (particularly those of B. Boley, whose amazing work was shown in Sign of the Times magazine), most of the important decisions about letter shapes and connectivity were reached by observing whatever strengths and weaknesses can be seen in tattoos using Burgues. Tattoos using Adios also provided some minor input. In retrospect, I suppose Affair exercised some influence as well, albeit in a minor way. I guess what I'm trying to say is there is as much of me in Piel Script as there is in any of the other major scripts I designed, even though the driving vision for it is entirely different from anything else I have ever done.
I hope you like Piel Script. If you decide it to use it on your skin, I'll be very flattered. If you decide to use it on your skateboard or book cover, I'll be just as happy. Scripts can't get any more personal than that.About the designer:
Ale Paul is one of the founders of the Sudtipos project, the first Argentinean type foundry collective.
Ale’s career as an art director landed him in some of Argentina’s most prestigious studios, and handling such high-profile corporate brands as Arcor, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Danone, and others. With the founding of Sudtipos in 2002, Ale shifted his efforts to typeface design, creating fonts and lettering for several top packaging agencies, along with commercial faces.
In 2006 he was a speaker at TMDG06, the largest Latin American graphic design event in history - more than 4,000 designers were in attendance. He has also taught seminars and spoken at the TypoBerlin, TypeCon, and AtypI conferences, at the Type Directors Club in New York City, and at events in Portugal, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Mexico and Canada.
His work has been featured in publications around the globe, including Print, Step, Creative Review, Visual, Creative Arts, Novum, and many others.
He has walked away with awards from numerous design competitions. He has received two Type Directors Club TDC2 awards, in 2008 for Burgues Script and in 2009 for Adios Script.
He teaches a postgraduate typography program at the University of Buenos Aires, where he previously taught graphic design.
This package contains:
Piel Script
Copyright © Alejandro Paul
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