Image and Text Strategy for the Modern Blogger (ie me)

For this project book I thought it would be a good idea to use a blog format. I specifically chose this because I think blogs represent where the written word is heading in the future, I also firmly believe that blogs have a strong image and text strategy. Sites like tumblr and blogger let you chose a "theme" for your blog, at that moment the author is making a choice of how their images and text will work with each other in an effective way. This seemingly mundane step in creating a blog is very important. I personally chose a very clean and simple theme. I wanted to highlight the text and titles more than what was happening in the background. I wanted the photos of my manuscript to jump out instead of being lost in a busy or bright sea of visual stimulation. I am not saying that through the evolution of my project my mind won't be swayed into changing the background or text colour, maybe even put in a background photo, but I want to set up my text and images in a way that they are clear and easy to understand. I want the reader to easily relate the photos to what I am writing and I feel this is best done by simplifying the blog into a clean, classic and sleek appearance. 

Visual Analysis is the Best Kind of Analysis

There are three major elements that totally dominate the pages of Bocaccio's manuscript, the large lettering that hold the place of the first character in a section of text, the red writing placed under the last of the major elements which is the image or illustration. Together these three elements with the addition of the black text make up the page. The page itself is divided into three major parts: Image at the top, Red ink underneath, and black ink text including the large character under that. The modern organization is similar to that of a children's story book with pictures. The reader is able to clearly see the illustration while reading the text in order to create a clearer mental picture of what is being described. This is a finer manuscript so it was done on a high quality parchment, this means that the writing surface is smooth and was able to be kept well preserved. There are no clear imperfections on the work from the images I have studied from my computer, I'm sure given the chance to actually handle the work one would be able to find the slight imperfections that go along with any animal skin. The text is careful and delicate, it was clearly done by someone who spent a great deal of time getting it to look just right. It is clear enough and big enough that one would not have to strain their eyes to read the manuscript. The colour palette is an interesting topic, I look forward to finding a larger number of colour images but from what I can gather there is a wide range of colours used. This is particularly exciting for me because historically colours can represent types of fabric if it was not possible to actually name the type of fabric being depicted. It was a subtle way to show economic and social power through the use of clothing without out-right saying it. The eye is very much drawn to the illustrations that occupy the top third of the page. They are busy and engaging images causing the reader to become interested in what is going on and engage with the text. 

The Rollercoaster Relationship of Image and Text

Boccaccio did a very interesting thing, he put the image and the top of the page and the text underneath, normally in one lone column. How modern of him! The manuscript reads almost like a modern day picture book. He puts emphasis on words of phrases by stylizing them in a different colour (red). The manuscript is a history of famous and important women, he makes it interesting by adding images. He uses the same timeless strategy as Dr. Suess, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein and many other great children's book authors. At the start of a new section the first letter is large and stylized, almost an image in it's own right. Boccaccio made sure the reader knew when a new section was starting and to pay attention because the first bit is always the most important. The images were used as a sort of guide, it added to the experience by having the image play out what was happening in the text. This way someone without any imagination at all could see these great ladies in all their finery acting out their stories with the vigour they were portrayed with. This effective organization tool made it so the stories were accessible to a wide range of individuals, even though the manuscript was a luxurious one and would almost certainly not have been accessed by the general public.

For the Love of Folios

To Choose Boccaccio or Not to Choose Boccaccio

I have chosen to study Boccaccio’s “De Mulieribus Clairs”. The literal translation to English is “The Famous Women”. The original manuscript was published in 1374 and is thought to be one of the very first biographies totally dedicated to documenting the feats of women. Primarily the women that are mentioned in the work are women of the past or biblical women. There is little to no reference of modern day women found in the text. The manuscript was translated into a variety of different languages including French and is called the “Des Cleres et Nobles Femmes” which is currently housed at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. This manuscript took up twenty years of Boccaccio’s life and turned into a fond project for him. I found this manuscript after I sent a pleading email to my professors begging for help finding something that I would find interesting enough to pour hours and hours into research, she did not disappoint! She suggested this particular manuscript because I usually focus my projects on textiles and since this manuscript was based on females there was a large quantity of dresses and gowns represented for me to look at and compare.  I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to work with textiles for this project and am very happily surprised that I get to look at something that I already loved while investigating a subject that I have yet to learn a whole lot about!