Speakeasy Script font

Typeface Review

Speakeasy Script

Reviewed by Kate Long on December 16, 2019

While I admire scripts, I don’t have a lot of need for them in my everyday life, so I tend to skip over them pretty quickly when I see specimens come across my desk or announcements arrive in my inbox. But Speakeasy? It’s a scroll stopper.

Two things about it immediately piqued my interest: one, it’s a connected script with actually satisfying connectors; and two, its creator clearly has a deep understanding of calligraphic letterforms. I wasn’t at all surprised when I saw the Sudtipos credit line. The designer, Alejandro Paul, has created and collaborated on over 180 digital fonts; he’s an expert and a force of nature.

Speakeasy Script was inspired by a German lettering book, which comes through in the careful mimicking of high-contrast pen strokes. I find this script to be hyper-legible with its tall x-height, and I’m all about the stylistic alternate glyph for the uppercase K. Making the leg kick below the baseline and increasing the thickness on the terminals adds a little extra personality to an already seriously classy font.

And it’s not only a script. The Speakeasy collection also includes a minor wedge serif, a flare serif, a sans serif, and a Didone. There are alternate glyphs, a discretionary ligature feature, and twenty stylistic sets you can use to adjust the kerning, connectors, and swashes. To call this family robust is an understatement.

But back to the style that inspired this selection: I’ve never been as excited about a script as I am about Speakeasy. It makes me want to travel to Argentina to track it down in its original use at “the most famous speakeasy in Buenos Aires” — or open a bar, so I have an excuse to use it.

Kate Long is the Librarian at Letterform Archive. She earned her MLIS from Drexel University, sometimes writes for the Archive blog, and occasionally gives public lectures on the impact of type and graphic design. Mostly she likes helping people find stuff.

One Comment

  1. Laura Serra says:

    Great review of the majestic script Speakeasy! I enjoyed reading it very much. Do you happen to know which writing book this script is inspired by? Danke!

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