Burgues Script is an ode to the late 19th century American calligrapher Louis Madarasz, whose legendary pen has inspired schools of penmanship for over 100 years. His talent has caused some people to call him “the most skillful penman the world has ever known.”I use the word ‘ode’ in a colloquially ambitious manner. If I was an actual poet, my words would be about things I desire but cannot attain, objects of utter beauty that make me wallow in humility, or people of enormous talent who look down at me from the clouds of genius.
But I don’t write poems. My work consists of letters drawn to fit together, that become an element of someone’s visual poetry.
The two main sources for Burgues were the calligraphy examples shown in Zaner Bloser’s The Secret of the Skill of Madarasz: His Philosophy and Penmanship Masterpieces, and C. W. Jones’s Lessons in Advanced Engraver’s Script Penmanship by L. Madarasz.
These two references were the cornerstone for the concept I was trying to work with. I did have to change many of the letters in order to be able to produce digital calligraphy that can flow flexibly and offered the user a variety of options, while maintaining its attractive appearance.
After working with digital scripts for so long, at one point I thought that Burgues Script would become a bit of a chore to complete. I also thought that, like with most other scripts, the process would regularize itself after a while and be reduced to a mechanical habit. Surprisingly, and fortunately for me, this did not happen. The past holds as many surprises as the future. Madarasz’s method of penmanship was fascinating and challenging to translate into the strict, mathematically oriented language of the computer. It seems that the extremely high contrast of the forms, coupled with the required flow and connectivity of such lettering, will always be hard work for any visual artist to produce, even with the aide of a powerful machine. I can only imagine what steady nerves and discipline Madarasz must have had to be able to produce fully flourished and sublimely connected words and sentences on a whim.
When I think of Madarasz producing a flourished calligraphic logotype in a few seconds, and try to reconcile that with the timelines of my or my colleagues’ work in identity and packaging design, the mind reels. Such blinding talent from over a hundred years ago.
Burgues is the Spanish word for Bourgeois.
In the end, I hope Burgues Script will serve you well when a flourished word or sentence is required for a design project. One of the wonders of the computer age is the ability to visually conjure up the past, serving both the present and the future. With Burgues, you have a piece of “the most skillful penman the world has ever known,” at your service.
About the designer:
Ale Paul is one of the founders of the Sudtipos project, a key reference for the quality of its work. His work has contributed enormously in placing Argentina firmly on the map of Graphic Design. 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 Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Danone, and others.
With the founding of Sudtipos Ale shifted his efforts to typeface design, creating fonts and lettering for several top packaging agencies, along with commercial faces. In 2012 his font Piel Script was selected at Letter2. He has received four certificates of excellence with Burgues Script, Adios Script, Poem Script and Hipster Script from the Type Directors Club NY and several awards at the Tipos Latinos biennial of typography.
He teaches a postgraduate typography program at the University of Buenos Aires, where he previously taught graphic design. He has also taught seminars and spoken at the Type Master Weeks NY, TypoBerlin, TypeCon, Pecha Kucha and Atypi conferences, at the Type Directors Club in New York City, and at events in France, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico and Canada.
He has been designated ATypi’s country delegate and is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and the first one for Argentina.
This package contains:
Burgues Script
Copyright © Alejandro Paul
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