Typeface Review

Burgues Script

Reviewed by Christian Palino on March 4, 2008

Creating a typeface that aspires to the blinding craftsmanship and pure ornamental beauty of Louis Madarasz is indeed a steep order to fill.

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.

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

Christian Palino is a designer and educator living in San Francisco. He is currently a Product Design Manager at Facebook and teaches Interaction Design at CCA. He previously worked at OpenTable, IDEO and Adaptive Path.

11 Comments

  1. Nate says:

    This is by far my favorite of the year! Just amazing how the letters flow so perfectly together!

  2. Felicitaciones Alejandro.
    El trabajo de un obrero, y la sapiencia del mejor.

  3. Bill Womack says:

    And it’s not the only beautiful typeface given form by Alejandro Paul. Still, it’s one of his most masterful.

  4. Thanks guys for that beautiful works, and to Typographica because they give me energy to follow that. :)

  5. Luis says:

    Pure skillz. I wonder how long it took to make it.

  6. matt says:

    Totally illegible.

  7. Karen says:

    Totally light and airy. I like flowing lines.

  8. Jonty Luke says:

    Hello Alejandro

    This font is amazing, i am in the process of designing a tattoo and this is exactly what i am looking for.

    How am i able to get my phrase in this font?

    Regards

    JL

  9. Tanushree says:

    Absolutely beautiful font!

  10. KAREN says:

    i am getting a tattoo on my neck and this is exactly what i have been searching for… how can i use this to make my tat?

  11. Graphic Nature says:

    The ampersand looks like the letter J…

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