KURT is a font for the author Kurt Vonnegut. It was born out of a personal project by designer Jack Smyth in an attempt to redesign Vonnegut’s backlist in a consistent and coherent style. It was soon apparent that Vonnegut didn’t suit an existing type style but required a font of his own. His stories are too strange, his humour too bespoke, his characters too individual to have them bound together by traditional approaches. Two years later, KURT is completed, with all 14 of Vonnegut’s novels shown here, designed using this new font as the anchor across the covers. 4th Estate published three of the novels, Galapagos, Bluebeard and Deadeye Dick with these new covers on 11th July 2019.
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KURT is a clunky, condensed, titling typeface, made to be used at larger sizes. It takes reference from the mid 20th Century, with some nods to pulp traditions. It also has long, straight vertices which want to be stretched and played with. Hopefully it’s a font that is as odd, playful and various as the author who inspired it. You can download it at the bottom of the page and it is free for both personal and commercial use.