Design Principles in Ancient Manuscripts

I really enjoyed looking at the ancient manuscripts from the British library for my introduction to Graphic design homework. I looked at the Lisbon Hebrew Bible and the Sherborne Missal. I can’t imagine how many hours and how many artists must have been used to create such intricate and precise manuscripts. Each used repetition of various colors such as gold and red to provide a common theme through the manuscript. I thought it interesting that even though I can’t read Hebrew, by noticing the artist’s use of contrast and repetition in the Lisbon Bible, I was able to determine when a new chapter or book began. In the Sherborn Misal, I was struck by the pages that contained the word for the Christmas Mass. They were the most decorated pages of the book. The grouping of so many intricate pictures helped the artist emphasize how important he felt these pages were. It is also interesting that the way that the artist used alignment in his design was to frame the pages and to create decorative dividers to create two distinct columns on each page.