Type designer Alejandro Paul visits TBWA\Chiat\Day
Brownstone typeface by Ale Paul/Sudtipos
BY HOLLY HODGES. LOS ANGELES (CHIATDAYNIGHT) — Typographer Alejandro “Ale” Paul gave a talk on type design at West Coast advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day recently. Señor Paul is a cofounder of Sudtipos Type Foundry in Buenos Aires. He was in Los Angeles for TypeCon2010: Babel, a conference presented by the Society of Typographic Aficionados.
Handwriting. One of Paul’s goals in typeface design is to keep the look as close to handwriting as possible. Usually he begins with one word, and then extends that into an alphabet. Then he completes the font with ligatures and flourishes that are available with a tap of the keyboard.
Influences. For inspiration he looks at ephemera, old books, hand-lettered street signs, and architecture.
Retail Packaging and Typography. While working as an art director at the turn of the millennium, Paul had observed that Argentinian retail packaging and displays used typography indiscriminately. Sometimes the same typeface would be used for a box of dog biscuits and for a package of children’s cookies!
Sudtipos. Paul decided he could make a difference in typeface design. With Ariel Garofalo, Claudio Pousada, and Diego Giaccone, he established the first Argentinean type foundry collective, Sudtipos, after his job as an art director had been threatened by the great Argentinian economic crisis (which climaxed in 2001 when the government froze all bank accounts for a year).
Sudtipos typefaces have been featured around the globe on magazine covers and CD artwork, and they have won several awards.
Sudtipos has a reputation for elegant display type, scripts, and calligraphic faces. One of the newest is Brownstone, which was inspired by the ornate iron railings of the row houses in the Park Slope neigborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.
Creative Partnerships. Ale Paul enlisted Angel Koziupa — who designed the famous Quilmes beer logo — as a creative partner at Sudtipos. Together, they created Habanos, a full working font derived from the Quilmes logo. Years after designing Habanos, Paul and Koziupa continue to collaborate on beautiful fonts for packaging.
Sudtipos foundry fonts can be purchased online at Veer .
