Creative Book Design- ‘Text, image and typography’ Research Points:
Research Task 1: The Golden Section
I had come across the Golden section and researched these ‘rules’ briefly during the Core Concepts section. I looked into them further when reading ‘The New Typography’ by Jan Tschichold. The mathematical concepts behind composition and why certain work will be more aesthetically pleasing than others is very interesting. I read through the Wikipedia information and continued to research further myself.
I came across a few interesting videos when searching into the application of the Van de Graaf Canon’s/Golden ratio/Fibonacci sequence.
“How To Draw And Use Grid Systems In Your Design Layout (Van de Graaf Canon)”
“The canons of page construction are historical reconstructions, based on careful measurement of extant books and what is known of the mathematics and engineering methods of the time, of manuscript-framework methods that may have been used in Medieval- or Renaissance-era book design to divide a page into pleasing proportions.”- Wikipedia
"Though largely forgotten today, methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve have been developed for centuries. To produce perfect books these rules have to be brought to life and applied."- Jan Tschichold
The application of these rules still applies today, which I find brilliant, how ‘rules’ such as these do not change as they are based upon mathematical principles that are displayed throughout the natural world.
“Raúl Rosarivo analyzed Renaissance-era books with the help of a drafting compass and a ruler, and concluded in his Divina proporción tipográfica ("Typographical Divine Proportion", first published in 1947) that Gutenberg, Peter Schöffer, Nicolaus Jenson and others had applied the golden canon of page construction in their works. According to Rosarivo, his work and assertion that Gutenberg used the "golden number" 2:3, or "secret number" as he called it, to establish the harmonic relationships between the diverse parts of a work, was analyzed by experts at the Gutenberg Museum and re-published in the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, its official magazine.”- Wikipedia
This short video began to explain how to create the ‘grid’ yourself and then went onto mentioning how to ‘break the rules’ including a quote by Massimo Vignelli. This is something I will keep in mind when designing my ‘correct’ use of typography book.
In this video the method of creating the guide lines is described again, but then the designers process is spoken through step by step as to what he choses to do, and why he choses to do it. It is very interesting looking at ‘perfect’ designs which completely stick to ‘the rules’. The idea of what should or shouldn’t be is perhaps something I can explore when producing my books.
Research task 2: Choosing a typeface
In Exercise 3, you have to choose a typeface for the text, but how do you choose a typeface? In Notes on Book Design, Derek Birdsall describes clearly how you can choose a typeface that is appropriate for your text. Read the section ‘on choosing a typeface’ in the book, Notes on Book Design, and use this as an approach in Exercise 3.
This was a short but very interesting read. I am familiar with Derek Birdsall’s work from a previous task and from a tutor recommendation I believe. His use of typography as a visual element within his book covers as opposed to just a heading/”where to include” the heading is brilliant. The list of typefaces here look great, I hadn’t seen Walbaum before and also Van Dijick, these 2 especially in italics are a few typefaces that I will test with including within my further work/final assignment.
Research task 3: Sourcing images
As a student on this course you have access to Bridgeman and Oxford Art Online image libraries, which are a wonderful resource. If you haven’t already done so, spend some time finding your way around the Bridgeman Art Library and Oxford Art Online. You can access these through your OCA/UCA library access via the OCA student website.
I used the UCA library access to research Dieter Roth and El Lissitzky (which is shown within ‘Assignment Three: My Little Book of...’)
