4 Design Principles in Ancient Books

The sacred text I viewed to distinguish the basic design principles is the Bible from Ethiopia. This Bible is amazingly colorful and beautiful and displays design principles throughout. An example of the principle of contrast is the contrasting colored text throughout the document. It alternates between red and black text. Page one also shows a great use of contrast by the large text at the top of the page. The principle of repetition is seen in this document by the use of repeating colors throughout the document. The colors green, blue, red and yellow are on every page. The principle of alignment is seen in this document with the two column text; the texts align beautifully on pages. Also there is alignment seen in the illustrations. On page twenty five the illustration text is equally spaced on both the left and right of the picture. Some of the examples of proximity on the page are seen with the text that is separated and placed up by the pictures at the top of some of the pages. Another example I noticed was the large graphic dividers separated the information on some of the pages making the text visually separate. Page twenty nine also displays some proximity by having text vertically on the page which works to visually separate it as well.  I was really surprised these design principles are shown in such ancient texts and they are a great example to learn from. The card of design from the intricate pantings to the way it was bound show the importance of this text.