Ancient books and graphic design principles

In EDLD 5366 this week, I investigated several ancient texts for the components of great design. These are contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. I viewed the Bible from Ethiopia, Lisbon Hebrew Bible, Baybars' magnificent Qur'an, and the Outstanding 15th-century church book at the British library site http://www.bl.uk. I will focus on the design elements found in the Bible from Ethiopia. The print is all black but there are some phrases in red. This shows contrast. Also, the pattern around the border of the text repeats. This shows good se of repetition. The colors in the border reveal more contrast. The book shows alignment in the text and artistic elements of the border. They all travel in the same direction and are structured in similar fashion. The book is very systematic in its appearance showing alignment.Proximity is revealed by the fact that the like elements are grouped together. The drawings are in the border and the words are grouped together as the body of the page and text. I was shocked by the beauty of these texts. The use of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity were excellent. I was amazed at the detail given the time period and the fact that the images that I viewed looked better and more intricate than many of our modern day designs created on the computer. It just goes to show that we have not advanced as much as we would like to think. The great minds of the past were quite possible more creative, intelligent, and artistic. They did not have access to the tools. that make our jobs more efficient and faster and yet the work they have created uses the best practices of graphic design meeting and exceeding what we would expect in the areas of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.