Hasta La Ideas

Argentinian type designer Alejandro Paul‘s latest face, Piel Script (piel, pronounced pee-yell, is the Spanish word for skin) has been specially developed for use by tattoo artists…

The typeface has a huge number of alternate characters (there are 41 different uppercase As to choose from) and plenty of ligatures and swashes to personalise your tattoo text designs.

“I have received a lot of requests to typeset and modify tattoos using other scripts I’ve designed like Burgues Script or Adios,” says Paul. “At first the whole idea was amusing to me. I had worked in corporate branding for a few years before becoming a type designer, and suddenly, I was being asked to get involved in personal branding, as literally ‘personal’ and ‘branding’ as the expression can get.”

“In a way, Piel Script is a removed cousin of Burgues Script,” Paul continues. “Although the initial sketches were infused with some 1930s showcard lettering ideas (particularly those of B. Boley, whose amazing work was shown in Sign of the Times magazine), most of the important decisions about letter shapes and connectivity were reached by observing whatever strengths and weaknesses can be seen in tattoos using Burgues. Tattoos using Adios also provided some minor input. In retrospect, I suppose Affair exercised some influence as well, albeit in a minor way. I guess what I’m trying to say is there is as much of me in Piel Script as there is in any of the other major scripts I designed, even though the driving vision for it is entirely different from anything else I have ever done.”

More info on Piel Script can be found at veer.com – where it is available exclusively, for the sum of £60, as part of the Umbrella Type collection.