The first thing one can appreciate about this manuscript is the amount of artwork contained inside of it, which I think, is interesting because the cover displays quite the opposite. The cover is plain with lots of empty space with the exception the powerful logo displayed in dead center. The logo suggests royalty and sacredness. The author did a great job of concealing the tremendous about of artwork by the use of a plain cover. The cover is not ancient and suggests that the manuscript was created in modern time. The inside of this manuscript has artwork on every single page, white space is not an issue. The strategy inside of the manuscript was simple: religious text accompanied by beautiful artwork. The most obvious use of contrast throughout the manuscript is the use of black v. red in the text. Another example of the use of contrast is in the cover of the manuscript. This cover is the best example of using large v. small. Even though the empty space of the cover has the outright size advantage, one cannot help focus on the simple yet powerful logo despite its small size. Repetition is used quite frequently throughout this manuscript in terms of pictures (artwork), text size, color and style. Although all the artwork throughout the manuscript is not identical, it is extremely similar with very little variation. Its similarity ties the elements together, in this case it ties one page to the next. The font style is the same for the red and black text. Both use old English fonts with serif. The black text dominates as the main text while red is used to start new ideas or paragraphs. Wrap around graphics border most of the text for most of the manuscript with the exception of a few pages. In terms of alignment, the cover uses the most basic of them all; center alignment. The cover of this manuscript could be chopped up in horizontal or vertical and the four pieces would look almost identical. The main text on the other hand utilizes a geometrical center line made up pure artwork. The artwork not only wraps around text but also serves as a center divider for this two column style text to help clean up as much white/empty space as possible. Finally, in reviewing this work of art, one cannot stop and think about why there is so much artwork in this manuscript compared to a traditional bible or prayer book. This manuscript became famous as a result of the artwork. The artwork is in place to complement the text it surrounds. Every single piece of artwork helps the reader visually understand the text. The authors or artists used this technique of proximity to match the artwork to the photo. They simply belong together. The reader shouldn't have to read an entire page before seeing a visual. The author wanted the reader to simply scan their eyes a couple of inches to get a visual of what the text is referring to. This defines the element of proximity according to week 1 lecture: "the reader shouldn't have to seek out the next logical piece of information; rather, use proximity to make sure that the next piece of information a reader sees is the next piece of information they should see" (Professor Cummings).
Sources:
Professor Cindy Cummings Week 1 video lecture "Graphic Design Principles".
Turning the Pages: High quality version of the Sherborne Missal. (n.d.). THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The world's knowledge. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/sherborne/sherborne_broadband.htm?middle
