A lot of people ask me how I came up with my business name so today I sat down and wrote out the answer.
Where did such a name come from?
The name comes from medieval manuscripts, which are called illuminated manuscripts. We have, in a few renown libraries around the world examples of the most stunning medieval art contained on thepages of books created more than a thousand years ago. Many of these are religious texts, lovingly illustrated and calligraphed by devout monks who sat in their scriptorium day after day penning carbon-ink words and painting jewel-toned illustrations.
What does it mean?
Specifically, it means design elements containing light or that are illuminated. Illuminated manuscripts are medieval documents in which the scribe has used gold or silver, technically. Typically, however, we include in the designation any medieval manuscript that contains painted illustration and what we call decorated initials. Today’s modern drop caps are a variation, or spin-off, of these magnificently ornamental and often ornate letters. Some scribes would create an entire city or miniature painting within the bowl of an ‘O’ or ‘P’ while others would let their artwork spill out to form an elaborately entangled border that extended down the side or across the top of the page.
Why you choose that as your business name?
I am a modern day scribe. Long before I discovered computer graphics and ‘fontology,’ I took brushes and pens in hand to create contemporary versions of medieval documents. My script of choice was the batarde (a 14th century form of black letter) and my paints were not made from precious stone but were gouache. It was in doing this close and delicate work that I learned the essence of typography and design. Part of my creative design process was creating the text, or copy. As a result of how all of these skills interact, today I also work professionally as a writer, editor and as an editorial assistant.
It is my love of words and images that are the foundation of Illuminated Designs. In choosing the name I honor all those scribes who came before me and stand as my teachers and masters. I stand on the shoulders of these giants as I bring my love for design and writing to the digital world.
Does this mean you only do stuff on paper?
Not at all. In fact, quite the contrary. Today my tools are Word, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver. Each plays an integral part in each page whether its a page for print or the web. Just as I mastered the calligraphy pen and paint brush I have mastery in the tools of today that I have chosen as being best-suited to the work I produce. Just as I loved sitting at my art board, working on each document and getting lost in the penning of text or stroking of paint over the page, I love creating on the computer. Each project for each client brings its own joy and creates its own pleasure. When you love what you do it is never merely work or just another job.
I honestly cannot think of anything else I’d rather be doing than this.
