Koridor Yayınları published Turkish editions of books by Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022). Known as the “father of mindfulness”, the Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism. The book series includes Zen ve Gezegeni Kurtarma Sanatı (Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, translated by Sıla Tanilli), İletişim Sanatı (The Art of Communicating, by Eda Çaça), and Yaşama Sanatı (The Art of Living, by Sona Ertekin).

The typographic cover designs by Feyza Filiz use FH Enso alongside Proxima Nova.

The book Faith in the Big City: Conversations About a Life Where There Is Room for God was published by Nikea, a Christian publishing house based in Russia. The headline typeface is Amalta. The subtitle and the “street names” on the cover are set in PT Mono.

From the website of Ohio University Press:

Masked Gods is a vast book, a challenging and profoundly original account of the history, legends, and ceremonialism of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. Following a brief but vivid history of the two tribes through the centuries of conquest, the book turns inward to the meaning of Native American legends and ritual—Navajo songs, Pueblo dances, Zuni kachina ceremonies. Enduring still, these rituals and ceremonies express a view of life, of man’s place in the creation, which is compared with Taoism and Buddhism—and with the aggressive individualism of the Western world.

The book was written by Frank Waters (1902–1995) and first published in 1950. Shown here is the paperback edition published in 1970 by Ballantine in their Ballantine Walden Edition, a series “aimed primarily at a college audience”. The cover design by Jim Driver features a photo of buffalo dancers by the New Mexico Department of Development. The bold caps with double inline are from Metropolis licht, a design by Willy Schwerdtner that was first cast by Stempel in 1928, and copied by Baltotype under the name Homewood.

This leporello was designed for the presentation of the documentary Casina·Pio·IV, L’Architettura del pensiero (“The Architecture of Thought”), produced by Morgana Studio (Eleonora Faccio, Flippo Genovese). The film was directed by Dario Edoardo Viganò and distributed by Rai Cultura, with Fujifilm Italia as its technical partner.

The leporello was printed on Fedrigoni Arena Natural Smooth paper. On the first page, the project is introduced as follows:

In the tumultuous 16th century, architect Pirro Ligorio, drawing on his extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge, created the architecture of the Casina Pio IV, a treasure trove of beauty in the heart of the Vatican that became a mirror of the radical socio-religious changes of the era, from the violent Sack of Rome to the momentous Tridentine Reform.

Title Image

From Wikipedia:

Cult of the Lamb is a 2022 roguelike video game developed by Australian studio Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital.

The branding of Cult of the Lamb thrives entirely on a single design philosophy: whiplash juxtaposition. By smashing together pastoral cuteness with occultism, developer Massive Monster created an instantly recognizable “cute-meets-creepy” aesthetic.

The primary title text uses highly stylized, custom blackletter-inspired letterforms. They feature the sharp, jagged terminals and verticality you would expect from a heavy metal band or an ancient occult manuscript. However, the edges are ever-so-slightly rounded and thick, ensuring it harmonizes with the game's cartoonish 2D art rather than feeling out of place. It is often framed by runic accents and upside-down crosses. The game relies on JAF Lapture Bold and Fira Sans for its menus and dialogue. This maintains the “ancient text” feel of a cult scripture while remaining perfectly legible for players managing complex base-building tasks.

When focused on base-building and the innocent followers, the colors are heavily pastoral. You’ll see soft, earthy grass greens, pristine fleece whites, and gentle pastel blues and yellows. This palette evokes safety, nature, and the cheerful aesthetic of games like Animal Crossing. The moment rituals, combat, or elder gods are introduced, the branding snaps to high-contrast colors. The primary anchor is a crimson red (seen on the Lamb’s crown and ritual circles), contrasted against stark blacks. To highlight magical corruption or ancient horrors, the branding utilizes neon magentas, purples and teals.

Title screen

Design Works

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Timeline poster, featuring Dom Loves Mary for “Unholy Matrimony”

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Believers Today is a bible studying course by the Shepherd International University taking place in Novara and Varese, northern Italy. The texts on their website are entirely set in various styles of Reforma 2018 by PampaType.

Tandem edition

John S. Allen designed about twenty display typefaces for Photo-Lettering, several of which were featured here on Fonts In Use before, including Riptide, Stingray, and Cubist. His Lancet is a boxy sans with horizontals that are thinned toward the center. It was first shown in the Alphabet Thesaurus Vol. 2, with a number that indicates a release shortly before the catalog’s publication in 1965.

Lancet can here be seen used in stretched caps on the cover of Witchcraft in the World Today. C.H. Wallace’s book was published in 1967 by Awards Books (US) and Tandem Books (UK). From the back cover:

Explore the Fascinating World of Witchcraft

• Learn About Love Potions
• Share the Secrets of a Caribbean Voodoo Ceremony
• Discover the Incredible Extent of Belief in “The Evil Eye”
• Trace the Mysterious Power

Award Books edition

Maxime Lancien, gallerist and publisher, runs Din Heol Books. Following the release of the second issue of Les Bonnes Choses in September 2025, he published Naïa in October 2025, a bilingual French–Breton publication designed with Studio Boulon.

Positioned between memory and creation, Naïa explores a dialogue between language and contemporary art, drawing on the collections of Breton museums and the notion of the Matter of Brittany. Folklore emerges as a key source of inspiration. This first issue features, among others, filmmaker Emmanuel Piton and writer Maaï Youssef, gathered around the theme of death.

The layout combines GT Alpina (Reto Moser, Grilli Type) and Gallmau (Malou Verlomme, Skritur).

During the Civil War there were many many patriotic covers (envelopes) printed, both by the North and the South. This unused one from the “Know Nothing Party” uses a patriotic flag typeface very similar to the one used in the 1870s by Robert Malcolm, as did a number of Northern envelopes. It might be a different size of Johnson’s National – or a close follower – and was printed in two runs. Note how the two colors don’t align perfectly.

National was patented in 1856, and the Know Nothing Party was dissolved in 1860. The envelope thus is probably from the second half of the 1850s.

La Cuadrilla is a brotherhood and bullfighting association headquartered in Écija, Spain.

Designed by José María González, the brand identity is rooted in collective belonging, envisioned as a cultural bridge that reconnects Andalusian tradition with a new generation. The visual system is built on the mechanics of community: how people gather, interact, and generate shared meaning.

Rather than simply “modernizing” folklore, the project focuses on translating its duende (the raw interplay of memory, texture, rhythm, and emotion). The design is set in Romie Regular (designed by Margot Lévêque available on Claude Type), supported by Gill Sans. Typography serves as the primary vessel for this togetherness, acting as a dynamic “shared voice” rather than a rigid, fixed statement.

Spark of Fortune — Buying matches and salt at the beginning of Tết (the Lunar New Year festival) is a traditional Vietnamese custom, symbolizing wishes for luck, prosperity, and abundance throughout the coming year.

This product is a collaborative work between 61 Studio and Reo Ca Coffee. The matchboxes are handcrafted in a limited edition of 68 boxes, with each box containing 26 matchsticks, representing the year 2026.

The deatured font is Print Script Light by Faire Type. The phrase “Cát Hóa” expresses the wish for a harmonious and promising year, transforming difficulties into favorable outcomes and bringing good fortune and fulfillment. The supporting font is Libre Franklin Bold by Impallari Type.

Illustration and design by Lan Dao, with copywriting by Lam Linh.

N’de Jos’r is the thesis project of Gabriele Falcinelli (MA in Illustration, ISIA Urbino, March 2026), a work that sits between anthropological analysis, field research, and archival investigation. At its core is the Carnival of Putignano (Italy), observed not as a simple folkloric event but as a complex cultural device, layered and deeply rooted in the social dimension.

The theoretical framework, drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin, Arnold van Gennep, and Victor Turner, does not remain confined to a purely academic level, but translates into a concrete practice of in situ research. Falcinelli literally goes n’de jos’r (i.e. “inside the house” in the Putignano dialect), entering the domestic and private spaces of the festival and adopting an internal point of view that allows him to present carnival as a lived experience rather than a represented one. The result is a research publication that is dense yet accessible, where heterogeneous materials – texts, archival images, interviews, and illustrations – are organized into a solid structure capable of sustaining the complexity of the subject without becoming heavy.

This first artefact is accompanied by the illustrated leporello U Ndond’r (a dialect term evoking a swaying, unstable movement typical of a crowd in a state of collective euphoria), which performs a significant shift: from documentation to staging. Here, carnival is translated into a continuous processional dimension, an allegorical sequence that condenses symbols, rituals, and figures into a single visual narrative. The format itself – expandable and non-linear – becomes a narrative device consistent with the idea of a collective and chaotic flow that characterizes the final ritual of the Carnival.

It is, however, on the typographic level that the project reveals one of its most interesting aspects. In the research publication, the pairing of Forma DJR Text (by David Jonathan Ross) with Graphique Pro (by profonts) establishes a controlled balance between an academic register and a contemporary openness. Forma is used rigorously and consistently as the backbone of the text: a discreet presence that ensures readability and stability throughout the editorial structure. Graphique Pro, on the other hand, introduces a more pronounced variation, helping to define hierarchies and moments of discontinuity. The system works precisely because it maintains a clear distinction between these two levels, avoiding overlaps or ambiguities.

The leporello U Ndond’r features, on its front side, a screen-printed illustration of a procession in which the various symbols of the Carnival parade: from the arrival of the relics of Saint Stephen, through the Carnival Thursdays, the parade of floats, and the final rites, interspersed with iconic characters and events, including the many interpretations of the Farinella mask.

On the reverse, a text provides further insight into the history, rituals, and key figures of the Carnival of Putignano. This is accompanied by archival images reworked from those represented on the front. The project is thus structured on a double level, where visual synthesis and documentary depth coexist without overlapping.

Within this framework, Sole Sans and Sole Serif (by CAST) support the informational layer with a measured use, ensuring clarity and continuity without competing with the illustrative component, which remains the primary narrative focus.

In the confetti packaging, Falcinelli uses AM Assab (from the Alfabeti Modernisti collection) based on a direct association between typographic form and object: the character’s simple, geometric shapes echo the small, serial nature of confetti, establishing an immediate visual correspondence.

On the cover, a custom lettering designed by the designer appears, explicitly inspired by the one created by Mario Cresci in 1976 for the book Isabella Morra e la società meridionale del Cinquecento by Giovanni Caserta (Edizioni Meta).

Overall, the thesis project demonstrates a solid methodological awareness and the ability to hold together research, narrative, and design. The typographic choices fit coherently within this framework, avoiding obvious solutions and contributing to the definition of a layered yet controlled visual language.

The cover for Isabella Morra e la società meridionale del Cinquecento by Giovanni Caserta (Edizioni Meta) was a reference for Falcinelli’s lettering.

The Sahaja Yoga website from Switzerland uses Reforma 2018 (PampaType) for titles, phrases and all main texts, plus Renner* a.k.a. Jost* (indestructible type*, 1997, based on Futura by Paul Renner, 1927) for secondary texts.

Rizo Masr’s 2026 Ramadan Emsakeya (إمساكية رمضان) is a foldable A3 Riso-printed monthly tracker. It contains prayer timings, duaas, athkar reminders and habit trackers for the Islamic holy month. The foldable format allows the user to use it as both a practical printable and also a visual asset when it opens showcasing photographs of Cairo Ramadan street decorations and lanterns printed in duotone.

Klaus Richter’s 300-page photographic documentary Yamakasa takes a look behind the scenes of the spectacular Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival in the Japanese city of Fukuoka.

Yamakasa is not a classic photo book, but a tapestry of culture, closeness, and movement. The book was photographed by a renowned rock and metal scene photographer and designed by his son, and is all about a 785-year-old Japanese ritual. A German-Japanese font ‘spectacle’ carries and supports the book. Yamakasa documents the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival 2025 and translates its energy into a visual language that goes far beyond mere documentation.

The origins of the festival date back to 1241, when the Buddhist monk Enni was carried through the city on a festival float by the population in order to drive away the plague with prayers. Over the centuries, the ritual ceremony developed into a spiritual festival that is unique in the world. Every year from July 1 to 15, seven groups of men parade through the old town with their magnificent Yamakasas: richly decorated wooden frames weighing over a ton.

German photographer Klaus Richter, who has been a constant companion to the rock and metal scene with his camera since the 1960s, received rare permission in 2025 to accompany one of the teams during the festivities. His photographs document not only the procession itself, but also the preparations, the breaks, the sweat, and the audience. They show the pulse of a community celebrating its tradition.

The impetus for the book came from the photo platform LFI Gallery (Leica Fotografie International). LFI Gallery awarded five photographs by Klaus Richter as ‘Mastershot’, five additional images as ‘Selection’, and one photo as ‘Picture of the Week’ in 2025.

Yamakasa was designed by Klaus Richter and his son Gabriel Richter. They conceptualized the book as a spatial and movable object. The headlines and texts move across the pages like the Yamakasa carriers through the city. The open thread stitching is not only an aesthetic detail, but a deliberate reference to the ropes and cords that hold the Yamakasas together. With around 300 pages, the book has a physical presence that conveys the weight and power of the festival.

During the preparations for the festival, the men wear stylish Toban Happi coats. There are over 50 different types. The Nishinagare group, accompanied by Klaus Richter, wear dark blue toban happi coats with white characters.

In the German-Japanese typography, the typeface collection Tausend from Fontwerk plays a central role and Gabriel Richter was also involved in its development. Its compactness and slightly slanted ends correspond strongly with the structure of Japanese Kanji and their dynamic strokes. Tightly spaced letters create a feeling of density and cohesion, as exemplified by the groups of men carrying their palanquin. In combination with the Japanese typeface Hiragino Sans from Screen Graphic Solutions Co., whose subtle weight gradations could be precisely matched to Tausend, a captivating typographic dialogue was created – without striking effects or cultural simplifications.

Yamakasa is a book about community, trust, and movement. Tausend and Hiragino Sans are not neutral carriers of information, but part of the narrative: powerful, compact, rhythmic. The project exemplifies how type not only accompanies, but also carries meaning. And how typography can bridge the gap between form and content.

Just as the stretcher is carried through the old town of Hakata, the explanatory texts take up different positions on the double pages.

One of the five master shots awarded by LFI: At 38 degrees Celsius, the air shimmers, and water from the buckets of spectators provides cooling relief.

The fonts Tausend and Hiragino Sans engage in a typographic dialogue, either in positive or negative space.

On the morning of July 15, just before sunrise, the highlight begins: the Oiyama run. With rhythmic drums behind them, the runners storm through the alleys – a mixture of ecstasy, ritual, and pure devotion. After the run, the group ceremonially tears the stretcher apart in a kind of battle. If the participants manage to grab something, they can take it home as a trophy. Since this ritual is too dangerous, it is now only performed by the group that Klaus Richter accompanied.

Trevor Dearing (1933–2023) was a Charismatic Anglican priest who wrote eighteen books, including this one about miraculous healing through faith. For the cover, designer Cynthia Sahlman build a wall of type from the Heavy and Regular weights of ITC Serif Gothic. The display typeface by Herb Lubalin and Tony Di Spigna is used in all caps, featuring the alternate uncialish E.

The Kingfall typeface is used for headlines, initials, and chapter decorations of the manual book for the tabletop role-playing game from Mendercap. Dwellers Under the High Grave is a 56-page setting for the Ironsworn family of games, and Sundered Isles in particular. It draws inspiration from the early modern history, folklore and landscapes of Ukraine. Writing and layout by Michael Chumak, with illustrations by Roman Dubina. The text typeface is Equity.

For BLXXD & FYAH by Keznamdi, winner of Best Reggae Album at the 68th Grammy Awards, with Creative Direction by Nathanael Amadi and Art direction and Design by Kyra N. Thompson, who approaches typography as an articulation of lineage. The LP gatefold is set in Azeret, where its monospaced structure establishes a contemporary clarity and a cadence between image and type across the interior composition.The cover and accompanying images, photographed by Sam Rivera, feature a custom Amharic title translating to “Blood and Fire.” Designed by Thompson for this release, the lettering draws from Ethiopian script traditions while adopting a distinctly contemporary form.

[More info on Discogs]

Front cover and label

Gatefold and label

A rare sighting of Theodore Fantasia, for a book by “ghost hunter” Hans Holzer. Drawn by John Theodore, the italic all-caps typeface is a formidable choice for the topic: don’t the amorphous white letters look a lot like a bunch of kids haunting and hooting coltishly underneath bedsheets? Especially the E seems to have a lot of fun, whereas C looks unwell and wobbly, having overdosed on the Halloween candy.

First published in hardback by Hawthorn Books in 1968, this is the cover of the paperback edition by Popular Library.

[More info on ISFDB]

Das Luka-Evangelium was made by Orphea Joanna Heutling as her Bachelor thesis project at HFBK Hamburg. From the author and designer (translated):

Das Luka-Evangelium is an experimental translation of the Bible in which, based on research into the representation of gender diversity in heroic narratives, some of the male characters in the Gospel of Luke have been transformed into women and non-binary people. The original text is 85% male, as the Bible is a book written by men for men.

Das Luka-Evangelium was written for a diverse contemporary audience, just as the four Gospels are each their own version of the story for their respective times and audiences, and often deviate from historical facts. In the spirit of plurality in faith, this translation is intended to complement, not supersede, other translations.

To design this book, Heutling used Muoto (Matthieu Cortat, 205TF) and ABC Marist (Seb McLauchlan, Dinamo).