The Arts and Crafts Movement and Its Heritage

Diagrams and symbols are printed in brilliant primary colors with woodblocks, color replaced traditional alphabet labeling to identify the lines, shapes, and forms in the geometry lessons. The dynamic color and crisp structures anticipate geometric abstract art of the twentieth century. This first treated the book as a limited edition art object and then influenced commercial production, which was largely a result of Arts and Crafts movement. This flourished in England during the last decades of the nineteenth century of the Industrial Revolution. William Morris's main inspiration were medieval arts and botanical forms. Morris tried to implement Ruskin's ideas, the tastelessness of mass-produced goods and the lack of honest craftsmanship might be addressed by a reunion of art with craft.

The Century Guild

The designs provide one of the links between the Arts and Crafts movements and the floral stylization of art nouveau. The medieval passions of the Arts and Crafts movement were reflected in the graphic designs of Image and Horne. Its careful layout and typesetting, handmade paper, and intricate woodblock illustrations made it the harbinger of the growing Arts and Crafts interest in typography, graphic design, and printing. It was a design and printing movement advocating an aesthetic concern for the design and production of beautiful books. It sought to regain the design standards, high-quality materials, and careful workmanship of printing that existed before the Industrial Revolution. Morris admired the well-crafted typographic ages, generous margins, wide line spacing, and meticulous printing alive with hand-cut woodblock illustrations, head and tailpieces, and ornamented capitals.

Century Guild

The Kelmscott Press

Morris had made a number of manuscript books, writing the text in beautifully controlled scripts and embellishing them with delicate borders and initials with flowing forms and soft, clear colors. Punches were made and revised for the final designs, which captured the essence of Jenson's work but did not slavishly copy it. The Kelmscott Press was committed to recapturing the beauty of incunabula books. This design approach was established in its early books. These have a wonderful visual compatibility with Morris's types and woodblock illustrations. The entire design would be developed through this fluid process, for Morris believed that meticulous copying of a preliminary drawing squeezed the life from a work. The influence between Morris and Kelmscott Press upon graphic design, was evidenced not just in the direct stylist imitation of the Kelmscott borders, initials and type-styles. 

The private press movement

Ruskin went furthest in establishing an idyllic workshop paradise became a major English voice calling for integration of art and industry in a later era. Illustration and ornament were rejected in the approximately fifty volumes produced there using fine paper, perfect presswork, and exquisite type and spacing. It possessed a ringing elegance and straightforward legibility with modest weight differences between the thick and thin strokes and a slightly compressed letter. 

Private Press Movement

A book-design renaissance

The long-range effect of Morris was a significant upgrading of book design and typography throughout the world. In Germany, this influence inspired a renaissance of arts-and-crafts activities, wonderful new typefaces, and a significant improvement in book design. Mass production was viewed as a necessary evil, cautiously tolerated, principally for economic reasons. Guidelines included symmetrical layouts, tranquil harmony and balance, careful margin proportions, proper letter and wrong spacing, single traditional typefaces in as few sizes as possible, and skillful letterpress printing. Typography existed for the book and all of the typefaces designed for this purpose. The most important German type designer in the Arts and Crafts movement was Rudolph Koch, a powerful figure who was deeply mystical and medieval in his viewpoints. His type designs ranged from original interpretations of medieval letterforms to unexpected new designs, such as the rough-hewn chunky letterforms.

Book-Design Renaissance

Arts and Crafts attitudes about materials, function, and social value became an important inspiration for twentieth-century designers. Its positive impact on graphic design continues a century through the revivals of earlier typeface designs, the continued efforts toward excellence in book design and typography, and the private press movement that continues to this day.

Bibliography

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/Interactive%20Media/Contextual%20Studies/Meggs-History-of-Graphic-Design.pdf [Accessed 24 Jan. 2017].