After Class 2/13

1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session:
Today we talked about illuminated manuscripts as well as printing’s beginnings in Europe.

2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future.
Celtic manuscripts were very ornate and decorated; full pages of decoration were “carpet pages.” Romanesque/Gothic design, like the Douce Apocalypse, used the dense littera moderna (textura) type. Late Medieval texts, like the Book of Hours created by the Limbourg brothers, were also very ornate and used different colors of type like red to call out important things.
Gutenberg was the first to make movable type in Europe and did so by perfecting the metal alloy for the type molds. He first printed the 42-line Bible. Playing cards were the first pieces printed that all classes could obtain.

3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today?
It was useful to see the transformation of the different illuminated texts; in a way, you can look to your own designs and see an evolution of design that reflect who you were/how you thought at the moment, just as it seems in illuminated texts.

4. Question:
Did Gutenberg share his special alloy mix with others right away to help movable type along, or did others have to figure it out on their own?