Illuminating Media

Illuminating Media is the first book-length study of the long-neglected topic of late medieval English manuscript illumination—the intricate initials and borders that decorate medieval pages. Unfairly dismissed by art historians and collectors since the Victorian period, such illumination provides insights into the art of a period when Chaucer's works were canonized, the Wars of the Roses were fought, the Tudors came to power and then broke with the Catholic Church. In crisp and thought-provoking prose, Kathleen E. Kennedy gives English aniconic illumination—images that do not depict human figures—the attention it deserves. She shows how these works document elements of Renaissance aesthetics in English manuscripts and art much earlier than previously claimed, and how these manuscripts demonstrate what we would now call "user experience." In an interdisciplinary work that combines insights and approaches from medieval studies, media studies, design history, and communications, Kennedy reveals how these strategies have endured and continued to influence graphic designers in objects such as passports and currency. Illuminating Media is a fascinating work that bridges the ancient with the contemporary and showcases how so many academic fields can benefit from mixing methodologies.