In der Strafkolonie (In the Penal Colony)

This project was created in a typography course focused on book typesetting at the University of Arts Linz. It reimagines Franz Kafka's novella as an affordable booklet, expanded with images. The work was inspired by John Morgan's designs for Four Corner Books.

The body text is set in Preissig Text, designed around 1910 in Prague by Vojtech Preissig for the Czech language. Its low x-height becomes an interesting design element when used for German. As Kafka spent his life between these two languages, the typeface forms a bridge between design and content.

The colour photographs were made in collaboration with Alexander Till, who provided material from his drawing robot. The black-and-white photographs are experiments with needles, light and shadow, inspired by the novella.