This month’s Rising Stars

Burgues Script is a tribute to the nineteenth-century American calligrapher Louis Madarasz. Designer Ale Paul based this monumental typeface on two major publications reproducing Madarasz’s work, but there could be no question of a straightforward digitization. As he wrote, Paul had to “change many of the letters in order to be able to produce digital calligraphy that can flow flexibly and offers the user a variety of options, while maintaining its attractive appearance.” As usual, it was hard work to adapt the flexibility and connectivity of the original lettering to the logic of digital machines. Says Paul: “When I think of Madarasz producing a flourished calligraphic logotype in a few seconds, and try to reconcile that with the timelines of my work or that of my colleagues in identity and packaging design, the mind reels.” As it turned out, the digital flourishes of the prize-winning Burgues are no less dazzling. Like that other recent Sudtipos winner, Feel Script, Burgues is a great choice for spectacular lettering, from wine labels to tattoos.

The too-good-to-be-true introductory offer which helped Pluto rise to unseen heights a few months ago (see below) has inspired quite a few foundries to do the same. It worked like a breeze for the small Bulgarian foundry Typedepot, who released Centrale Sans at a bargain price and saw it rise steadily to the number one spot of our Hot New Fonts list. It helped, of course, that Centrale Sans is such a well-made family, adding a welcome new color to the well populated category of multi-functional, readable sans-serifs. It strikes a very nice balance between geometric cool and humanist friendliness. Its openness makes Centrale Sans a good performer on the screen as well.

Based in Concepción, Chile, Latinotype has published a great range of display faces that are fine representatives of the ‘latino’ approach: colorful, well-drawn, original and a bit cheeky. Sánchez is Latinotype’s first extensive family suitable for display as well as body text. It is a slab serif, or Egyptian: a modern-day Rockwell, but with more personal lettershapes and subtly rounded edges. Sánchez comprises six weights, from extra light to black, each with its matching italics. Regular and italic variants are available for free, so with a minimal extra investment in SemiBold and/or Bold weights you can obtain a small family to lend your brochure or website the clarity and contemporary feel it deserves.