The Codex

Codex: what a cool name for a book.

 It’s too bad the word didn’t stick for more contemporary forms of literature like the novel, but that’s because the word refers to a specific type of book; specifically manuscripts, which contain scripture or some kind of ancient writing. Even though the name is not commonly used, the codex-style bookbinding technique can still be seen everywhere.

How to make your own book, codex style.

Literally, I mean everywhere. In 2006, ArtStage, “a privately sponsored, public art exhibition” in Toronto, Canada, presented outdoor sculptures people could see on the way to a nearby airport.

Although The Book by Ilan Sandler’s size makes it easily seen from a distance, a closer look shows that there are shapes cut into the pages of the steel book sculpture.

The Book and its lost page

These shapes form clusters of words, which the artist refers to as “clustered texts [that] link the letters of the Latin alphabet to its predecessors, which include the Phoenician alphabet that emerged from Egyptian hieroglyphs...The future imprints of text on a page are dependent on their ancestral roots as well as the symbolic languages, codes, and alphabets that are evolving out of our contemporary society.”

Introduction (Or Assignment 1)

Hi!

About graphic design, I have never really thought of it as something that involved specifically written forms of communication, such as typography. I often place more emphasis on the word ‘graphic’ for its suggestion of images or symbols as a means of communication, like how they are used in signs or graphic novels. It just had not occurred to me that graphic design would also include letters or text, because if an image could already convey the message, why add text to it? (Wait, no, let me rephrase that.) I did not really think of text as an artform; I knew about fonts, and I knew that they could decorate (or be decorative), but they just didn’t quite register in my mind as, well, Art.

However, if graphic design = visual communication, then the inclusion of typography in design, such as a font on a book cover, makes perfect sense.

My name is Athena and I am an English (Literature) major with a minor in Art History, looking to work in the book publishing industry. I think that knowing the background of graphic design would make it easier to see how and why people use or respond to its more current applications, particularly when it comes to books and what people are reading.