The article is adapted from The Journal Of Technical Writing and Communication (Vol. 31, Pg 353-361). It is written by Mary Webb and Michael J. Albers in 2001.
Webb and Albers analyzed the principles of document design that was used in the Books of Hours and how they fit within the four design criteria (supertextual, extratextual, intratextual, and intertextual) that are recognized by C. Kostelnick and D. Roberts in 1998 (Webb & Albers, 2001). The Books of Hours was produced by William de Brailes in Oxford, England.
Supertextual
The Books of Hours were designed in tiny sizes so that it would be convenient to carry in hand. The wide margins allowed room for fingertips. Moreover, the use of black and brown ink on cream coloured parchment created high visual contrast. Different coloured inks were used throughout the text to indicate important points.
Extratextual
Latin was used. It is a language that all educated men could understand. The artists included images that were familiar to the readers, such as local flora and fauna, scenes of daily life, and mythical beasts to form means of personalization (Webb & Albers, 2001). Captions enhanced the messages which the visuals tend to convey.
Intertextual
Headings or chapters were bold to ease readers in looking for cues. The spacing was consistent as analysis showed that the white space ratio of 49.86 is a ratio that is almost matching to the 50 percent text to page recommended by modern designer, Thomas Pearsall (Webb & Albers, 2001). With all these principles of design being applied, Webb and Albers (2001) commented that the Books of Hours formed a modern template and served to create overall document cohesiveness.
Intratextual
One column format was used to improve readability. Consistent and large font size increased readability as well. Only few lines were placed in a page so that the text would not be overloaded. The organization of text in each page was designed for slow reading to aid the readers’ meditation on the text.
Conclusion
The Books of Hours had pleased the needs of their readers as the design was truly focused on readability and usability. It is user friendly as all the elements of design being applied ease the readers in making use of the manual frequently. The use of common acceptable and understandable visuals and language gives credit to this medieval manual as contextual cohesion was achieved. I do agree that the Books of Hours served as a high quality reference for future designers. Most of the criteria used can be applied in modern document publication. For example, the use of boldface to highlight headlines and chapters, the use of different colours to identify different points, standardize spacing and etc.
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