30 MUCCA DESIGN
Author Craig Conley has a literary mind and a designer’s reverence for individual
letters, a secular devotion made manifest in Mucca Design’s work
for his One Letter Words: A Dictionary. The pristine white volume has the
proportions and gold foil embellishment of a child’s first Bible, while its
uncoated jacket paper offers the tactile richness of leather.
Where Conley has unearthed the letters’ literary meanings, art
director Matteo Bologna’s Decora and Infidelity typefaces showcase
their forms with all the sensual flourish of an illuminated
manuscript. The latter typeface’s name suggests sinful indulgence,
and indeed the book’s design is not as pure as its sacred allusions
suggest. Conley opens with the notion of “an entire alphabet of
scarlet letters,” and Mucca’s color scheme is accordingly flush with
the rosy hues of flesh. Designer Cristina Ottolini claims she simply
set out to create “a handsome volume that would appeal to
bibliophiles, the sort of person interested in the rarefied topic of
one-letter words.” The result is sure to please even the most zealous
lover of language. by Taylor Stapleton
Mucca Design | Art Director: Matteo Bologna | Designer: Cristina Ottoloni | Type Designer: Matteo Bologna | Client: Harper Collins | Contact: www.muccadesign.com