Phillip B. Meggs, A History of Graphic Design. 6thth ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc: 2016.In this book chapter 1-6 choose one to get a general idea of possible subjects to write about. develop a research question about a specific aspect of letterforming or typographical practice in your chosen field. An example of a research question is: If there were already several miniscule manuscript hands in use by the 9th century, why did Carolingian miniscule become the standard for illuminated manuscripts for the next two hundred years? This question is appropriate in scope, meaning it is not too general to be able to be discussed in depth in a 5 page paper. This essay will discuss one concrete example of an historical typeface or letterform and discuss how the aesthetic characteristics of this typeface are related to its situation (economic, aesthetic, political, cultural and so on). Your critical and rigorous approach (remember our tutorial here) will produce an original and compelling thesis that builds on the course content with reference to at least three peer-reviewed academic sources. You will conclude by explaining how the case history youve chosen illustrates the significance of typography as a cultural form. Here you may wish to refer to appropriate conceptual terms from the course content. for formatting and citation style, and should be in 12 point font. Reminder: The paper focuses on one letterforming or typographical practice, and will engage critically with at least 3 academic sources to support its argument. Topic is clearly articulated, interesting, and appropriate in scope – proposes a relationship and makes possible an arguable thesis: 5 points Argument is logical and clearly developed and engages with at least three peer-reviewed academic sources: 5 points The characteristics of the typographical phenomenon discussed are clearly and meaningfully linked to their history: 5 points Essay is well structured through a succession of comprehensible and logical paragraphs that leads to a significant conclusion 5 points Please do not make too broad and not focused enough on typography. For example of the topic, talk about why the Roman alphabet (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOZQRSTUV) is the alphabet that is used in Western Europe. You may want to look at how Western Europe got writing from being under Roman imperial power from about 60 AD to about 400AD, and how the Roman alphabet came to continue to be used after that. Or you may want to talk about Carolingian minuscule and how it became the standard letterform for a few hundred years in most of Europe after Alcuin’s scriptoria.
