This week I am writing the Critical Report & analysis
The largest part of the analysis I am writing is basically just to look at the Lactantius Opera at different levels and define what I see and what that may mean. And then try and contextualise it in contemporary typographic theory and/or practice. I have had to exclude a lot of letters and conclusions due to the word limitation and have tried to make a focused analysis that opens up questions in all levels of the inquiry. I have a 20 pages long document of text that did not make the cut for the critical report.

I have tried to photograph the Lactantius to the Critical Report. I need to pair the letters that are described in the analysis with the letters from the Subiaco.




Carolingian Minuscule
This has been selected because it is a late Carolingian Minuscule, from around 1000, written in Latin and made in Trier, Germany.

Humanist script
This has been selected based on it being a representative form for Humanist script for this particular project. It was made in Italy, in the late 15th century.
Including scripts is equal to including the immense complexity of historiography. This complexity requires a knowledge of precision in paleography that I do not possess. Since scripts are written by hand they can belong to the same ‘family’, but differ a bit depending on a range of premises, such as when they were written and where. There can be many possible sources for a script, while for early type there are usually just one or a few.
Moodboard for typography
‘The Critical Report is due in a few weeks and I need to establish some kind of typography. I have been working with Jenson so far, even though it is suitable for the project, it’s too withdrawn or invisible. I need to find a typographic expression that has a bit more character.

The formats that will contain written material are quite tall. I personally enjoy working in tall formats, but also struggle a bit with getting a good flow in the typography. Maybe a two-column system can work? I really enjoy the dense, compact columns with sublime details for hierarchy, the indents, sub-headings, etc.

Studio Airport Source
Active negative space can really do a lot for a composition and working with a Roman in a range of sizes can be an effective way to underpin that negative space.


I think all of these examples from Studio Airport shows how I wish to approach the typography. It’s almost like a grey mass, in a way makes it an element, more than a text. This makes it more active in the composition, since the compactness of the text makes it into a positive form that regulates the balance in a much more articulated way than more ‘withdrawn’ texts.