Peter Mendelsund has designed a gorgeous new set of book jackets for the works of Franz Kafka. Scheduled to begin their release cycle in June or July through Alfred A. Knopf, the minimal and striking jackets feature three consistent components: the eye motif, bright color, and the type. Mendelsund made great use of FF Mister K by Julia Sysmäläinen, a design based on the handwritten manuscripts of Kafka.
FF Mister K is an expansive script. A single weight of FF Mister K Pro contains 1,509 total glyphs, including hundreds of ligatures (some combine up to four characters) and contextual and stylistic alternate glyphs. Accompanying the set of scripts is FF Mister K Dingbats, adding 1,345 symbols that range from flags to cityscapes to electronic devices. (No, Franz Kafka did not scribble the first iPod in his manuscripts—Sysmäläinen took a bit of creative leeway with these symbols to optimize them for modern usage.)
Download the PDF (4.4 MB).
Read much more about Peter Mendelsund’s Kafka book jackets on his blog, Jacket Mechanical.
