Ancient Manuscript Reflection

Alice's Adventure Under Ground 
Written and Illustrated by Lewis Carroll

I chose this piece of writing because I already know the story so I could focus on and apply the four principles of design we learned this week, contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, when analyzing this work.  I immediately noticed the simplicity of the design as a whole, which allowed the author to make subtle changes that made powerful statements.  Examples of contrast from the work include using color when a new chapter started, changing from script fonts for narration and dialog to block letters and using all capital letters when reading signs or labels, and changing the direction of the text to show emphasis in the story.  Examples of repetition from the work include the illustrations and colors used at the start of each chapter, the page numbers in the top, outside corners of each page, and the use of the same script font and size for narration or dialog throughout the book.  Examples of alignment I noticed are mostly related to the illustrations in the book.  No matter where the illustration falls on the page, the text aligned to it either above, underneath, or wrapped around.  There were a few pages where the illustrations and the text were turned sideways so the reader can focus on what the author is sharing.  Examples of proximity include the placement of illustrations near the writing they depicted.  Some were small, others took up the entire margins, and a few took an entire page.  I think the placement of the illustrations in the book was used to help the reader through this journey and understand its importance to the author.