Chapter 7: Renaissance Graphic Design

The word renaissance means “rebirth”. At this time, there was a transition from medieval times to modern times. Italian printers and scholars learned and used type design, page layout, ornaments, illustration, and book design, which started in Venice. Many important people were mentioned in the chapter. Johannes de Spira’s first book was Epistolae ad familiaires (Letter to Families); his first book printed with page numbers was called De civitate dei. Nicolas Jenson was a highly skilled cutter of dies, which was used for striking coin. He was history’s greatest typeface designers/punch cutters. He used space very well as he created extremely legible letterforms. He was the one who started to used trademarks. Erhald Ratdolt published Calendarium (Record Book), which comprised of 60 diagrams of lunar and solar eclipses. Cancelleresca was a specific script used at a slant; it was informal and quick. There soon became a demand for expert calligraphers for important state and business documents. Lodovico Arrghi was a master calligrapher who wrote out dozens of handwriting styles and taught littera cancellaresca script. Geoffroy Tory was an amazing person, for he was a professor, scholar, translator, author, poet, illustrator, designers, calligrapher, and engraver. I don’t know how he did that. I thought that was pretty amazing. He loved roman letterforms and trained craftsmen to eliminate the use of Gothic French typography. Oronce was also interesting. He was a math professor who integrated math and science with graphic design. His work was very precise and symmetrical. Paris, Nuremberg, and Venice developed into major graphic design centers.

The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was when page numbers were first being used along with title pages and other important aspects of books. It was also interesting reading on the Calendarium book because I love learning about outer space. The sun and moon are so interesting, so when the book mentioned that there were mathematical diagrams of the eclipses, I was drawn in right away. The people at that time had a better understanding of what was outside of the world. There was less superstition and more predictability. It was very interesting learning about how Tory was able to be a teacher, scholar, translator, author, poet, illustrator, designers, calligrapher, and engraver!
Were there any other abilities/talents/jobs Tory had on top of what was mentioned in this section?