More Easter art as Layout Design Example!

MORE EASTER ART AND A QUESTION

Folks doing a lot of overtime at PT job n no ideas for quickie posts so I hope you don't mind more EASTER ART. It is at least typography and layout related. Lovely example of  double columns with ornament and frame ! Even if you hate Easter scenes it is a gorgeous and beautiful layout too!

Also colors look how they get pale and mid blues to work with browns by also using red!

What can we learn from this to apply to modern web page design?

Will the weird medley of tags  in the labels dialog box backfire?

This is by the Limbourg Bros !

Next time hopefully more bevels

I'm trying to think of  combos I havnt tested yet to share with you !

Book of Hours Three

Book of Hours Three

Gothic Scripts in context

Both of these pages are from books of Hours from French workshops.

The first one reminds of me of the earlier English styles from the Winchester school and the second has well I picked this one ot show the binding and covers.

Art books discussing illuminated manuscripts have a tendency to use photos that emphasize the illustrations over ones that give you an idea of their setting and context within the page unless the book is a modern reproduction of  a whole work.

The use of ornament as a frame to emphasize text is also something web and ebooks designers should consider.

How should we balance white space, text, and decoration, to make text both legible and lovely?

Book of Hours Two

Book of Hours Two

Gothic Script in context

I have wondered lately why most of the best illuminated manuscripts were produced in workshops in France and Flanders and i suspect the answer is WAR.

The Wars and Revolts in England and the Hundred years War between England and France was probably a factor.

England had thriving workshops in the 12th and 13th centuries and the major workshops in France and Flanders were not in areas effected directly by the wars.

Plus a book of hours was a small portable item easy to pack and move unlike a church fresco or mosaic or a stained glass window.

This  particular Book of Hours was produced in Bruges which is now part of Belgium. The illumined sections are restrained and elegant.

Contrast this image with my previous post on the Bedford Hours.

This Book of Hours is called the Arnhem Book of hours.

Holland was still part of Flanders.

Note the use of white space in both books and the balance of the framing ornaments to the text sections and illustrations. Enjoy!

In the Next post I'll look at some French works.

Books of Hours One

Books of Hours

Gothic Script in Context

An illuminated Book of Hours was THE status item in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Many aristocrats and rulers delighted in commissioning and collecting them.

One of the most famous of them of that of the  Duke of Bedford.

I've chosen these 2 pictures cos I hope they illustrate the following

1) The relationship of picture in text in illuminated manuscripts

2) the size of the originals

3) the use like modern web pages of framing to emphasize section

4) gothic script in its original context

Enjoy this and the next few posts in this series.

Gothic Fonts - Two

Gothic Fonts - Two

Man y of us have computers with Old English font and the 2 related fonts Wide and Nue. How often do we think abuut the differences?

Here's some calligraphy using Gothic script so you can compare a printed  typeface with pen.

and finally how the strokes are formed.

compare the 2 images and think about how to sue Gothic whether you use a computer or a pen and color.

Gothic Fonts - ONE

The popularity of Gothic Scripts typefaces and fonts has shifted over the centuries.

Originally invented by scribes and then condemned as barbaric hence the name Gothic then revived in the 19th century certain political events reduced their popularity but they survive.

Here's a image of several variants!

and a image contrasting the letter shapes with Italic forms.

More next time!

Brush versus Pen

Brush Versus Pen

have you ever considered how much difference the shape of a tool makes to a letter and how a change of tool changes letter shapes?

This first image is modern typography. You could do this by hand but the use of layers and computers means you do not have to worry about white designer color or gouache or poster paint  not drying to a consistent smoothness for photographic reproduction and transfer to metal plates.

Next a design for a book plate a kind of small sticker to be placed in a book.

This one is early 20th century!

Finally while it was created digitally this logo from a sadly now defunct Geocities page is based on Gothic a script originally hand written in which the letter forms are made up of combined strokes on ink. 

Using modern technology makes us tend to focus on type as image.

Now please follow on to the next blog post in this sequence!?