BLAWG 3 ! Victorian Era Ads

The Victorian Era was often seen as a time of class and elegance. In my mind, for some reason, I had placed it, chronologically, somewhere inbetween the medieval times and the Renaissance. Actually, I sort of believed they were all the same thing, especially due to the fact that Victorian culture seemed very close to Renaissance culture. In reality, the Victorian Era was during the latter half of the Industrial Revolution, a time of great innovation and of cultural shifts that would last for centuries.

I found this advertisement for the B&O Railroad Company in my copy of "Lettering and Type - Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces" by Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals. I was drawn to it initially because of the colours and the large circular globe. The design overall, in my opinion, is very interesting. I think there's an intriguing juxtaposition between the cherub - an element of Victorian style - and the odd, electric-looking type. The cherub and swallows circling the globe seem to represent the old and natural, whereas the rest of the imagery - telegraph wires and factories - seem to reflect on the booming industry of this period.

The purpose of this design was actually as a menu cover, although it clearly advertises the company. The clash of old and new, and maybe even some foreshadowing apropos to the future of technology as the world becomes a smaller and smaller place due to the growth of communication.

Renaissance!

After laboriously toiling over this piece for a few hours I have developed newfound respect for the monks and scribes who lovingly designed and produced these meticulously intricate borders/letters back in the day. That being said, there's something very special about hand-rendering these sorts of designs, especially without the comfort of the "undo" button.

The function of my renaissance page layout would probably be for some sort of storybook, as the clovers in the border are meant to hold miniature illustrations. Seeing as it's not too intricate or extravagant, I wouldn't think that it would be used as a religious text.

I was inspired by the title page for the renaissance book "Orontii Quadrans Astrolabicus Omnibus" (a mathematical textbook, oddly enough) which I found very unique. I fell in love with the detailed linework and the movement of the Celtic cord that weaves in and out of the border. The author of the book, Oronce Finé, might also be the illustrator of this page, although sources are unsure.

I found the book here: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament-VolII/pages/006-celtic-knotwork-border/#details

The drop cap is in a style that is definitively of the Renaissance, and the border design is an interpretation of a work that is, too, from the Renaissance.

Although the original text I used as inspiration for this design was a mathematics textbook, meaning it was most likely for wealthy scholars, or those who had enough money to attend university, the design I have created would most likely be for the middle class, used in an anthology of folktales or possibly even a hymnal.

BLAWG 1 - Hieroglyphics & Design

For this week's blog we were asked to find an example of a piece of graphic design from the 21st century that was inspired or influenced by ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. I finally settled on this example of a hieroglyphic-inspired font - LMS Egyptian Bookends. Many of the hieroglyphic fonts I found online were just vector images of actual hieroglyphs themselves and were more dingbat than type. I thought that this was an interesting mix of type and hieroglyph.

This font, a display type, could be used for capital type (at the beginning of a paragraph) to add aesthetic flair. For any text-based design, like a magazine article on Egypt, this might add interest.

The font itself is a basic sans serif, closely resembling Impact, with a hand-drawn strip of hieroglyphs and a bust of the Jackal-god Anubis. The contrast between the clean-cut, simplistic design of the serif and the more complex, hand-drawn feel of the graphic give the font interest and style.

I feel that the quality of the font, overall, is fair. It is by no means revolutionary, but for the purpose it was designed for, it works well.

first post

naming this blog was difficult. Now I'm watching Spice World. Holla.