Paul has explained that he moved back in time, before Louis Madarasz, to conjure up the spirit and style of Platt Rogers Spencer. What more to say? The work of a man largely responsible for shaping American penmanship plus the genius of Ale Paul equals a stunning new script. I can’t wait to see what Ale has in store next.

Christian Palino is a salty Cape Codder and currently a design strategist at Adaptive Path. He’s appeared in and written for various design publications and has taught courses on subjects including typography and service design at IUAV University of Venice, Domus Academy, and the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea.

Clearly, the ability to master a script palette that stretches from Burgues Script to Candy Script and seemingly every style in between begets one very talented type designer.

Inspired by the Americana-style lettering on a welcome sign in the terminal at Calgary International Airport, Calgary Script is one of Alejandro’s most recent demonstrations of superb typographic talent. Its retro letterforms flow with elegance, yet retain plenty of playful exuberance. Full of OpenType features that include adequate alternates and ligatures, don’t be surprised to find yourself exploring phrases reminiscent of market signage and decades gone by, such as “Rocket Car” and “Huevos Rancheros” — preferably the latter, as the alternate s at the end of a phrase is by far one of my favorite characters.

I’ve never visited, but if Calgary Script is a precursor to the beauty that lies within Calgary … O Canada!

Cameron Moll is a designer, speaker, and author based in Salt Lake City, Utah. His work and advice has been featured by HOW, PRINT, and Communication Arts magazines.

Ale pulls it off beautifully. The sheer challenge of regularizing such penmanship usually translates into digital typefaces that either lack rhythm or become so overworked that they lose their vivacity. This is not the case with Burgues Script. The expansive set of flourishes and sweeping, high contrast swashes carry the tension of the pen and aren’t afraid to intermingle and mix it up.

Christian Palino is a practicing and teaching designer based in Milan, Italy. His work has been awarded by Print and ID magazines as well as the CASE Publication Awards.

Editor’s note: Here’s a little story of a young type designer coming into his own. At TypeCon2007, Alejandro Paul was approached by living legend Matthew Carter who handed him a copy of the most recent New York Times Magazine and pointed to the pages adorned with Burgues Script. Carter’s attention was drawn to the typeface by art director Nancy Harris Rouemy who had been using it in the Style section of the magazine for months. I imagine Alejandro nearly fainted, and rightly so. — SC