Hasta La Ideas

For 2007’s “best of” I picked Burgues Script — masterful, gorgeous, and digitally unparalleled. For 2008 I can’t help but be utterly in awe of Ale Paul’s talent and sheer obsessiveness as I choose Compendium.

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.