EDLD+5366+Assignment+1

EDLD 5366 Assignment 1.2 Ancient manuscript investigation: I looked at the Book of Kells, an ancient 9th century illustrated gospel. The illustrations are posted at []. My impression of the illustrations was that they were extremely ornate and elaborate, showing great reverence to the subject matter. From the illustrations and pictures alone, a story was being told and embellished. There were examples of contrasts in color, throughout the illustrations. Several themes were repeated, such as depictions of angels appearing frequently. There was symmetry and alignment in many of the illustrations, with the same design, in mirror image appearing on both the left and right of the page. The proximity or layout of the illustrations was significant. For example, on plate XIII, the “opening words of St. Mark’s Gospel”, the arrangement of the words is critical to convey the meaning to the viewer. The illustrations chosen were of particular religious and spiritual significance at the time. For example, well-known evangelical symbols were used, ie. 1) the man or angel, 2) the lion, 3) the calf, and 4) the eagle.
 * 1) Describe your first impression of these ancient works in respect to design
 * 1) Identify examples of each of the four principles of design
 * 1) What techniques did the authors/artists employ to help us understand the importance of those manuscripts/books?