Mantika Book expands the Mantika super family: a contemporary serif font with a soft,yet robust character and a classic lookMantika Book,an Antiqua,is the third member of the Mantika super family,which consists of the Mantika Sans and Mantika Informal. Designer Jürgen Weltin has gone back to the roots of his font,which he had originally derived from a Renaissance Antiqua.
These origins are recognizable in the first member of the Mantika family,Mantika Sans,in the form of carefully suggested line use and a contrast in the weights that recalls the Antiqua. This solid sans serif,optimized for use in text,also has a particularly energetic and dynamically designed italic.
Mantika Informal also brings to mind a cursive font at first glance; ultimately,however,it is not easily categorized. Its light,organic shapes combine the informally flowing style of cursive handwriting with the open and airy form and contrast of a humanist sans serif.
The shapes in the serif Mantika Book are also based on the Renaissance Antiqua,just like the other members of the Mantika super family. However,the contrast in the weights is somewhat stronger than is conventional for this genre,and the serifs are characteristically asymmetrical,with slanted ends. Lightly grooved stems with an implied curvature in the lower-case letters as well as dots whose shape flirts with a fountain pen lend the Mantika Book a dynamic and particularly friendly character. Details like the open "g" or the contoured foot of the "k" emphasize this dynamism. The letters of Mantika Book have the same large x-height as the other members of the super family,but are equipped with somewhat longer ascenders and descenders.