Gothic Revival

When one thinks gothic revival one thinks of one of the most influential styles of the 19^th century. Their designs were inspired and build over forms and patterns used in the middle ages (hence the word revival). It flourished from 1830 to 1900.

Technically speaking the gothic revival has based heavily on architecture, and architecture is a mile away from graphic design. Put the gothic revival was also an age of patterns. Patterns in todays day and age seem to be overlooked. Patterns have been around for ages, patterns show order and decoration. They also are constantly being used to decorate or are used as a backdrop to another graphical work. Therefore I do think the gothic revival has influenced modern graphic design.

 

Here we have two different patterns of the period the top one is highly decorative. Having the floral elements (which is another aspect within art which will never die) the detail within the detail is what makes the work so elegant.

 

Looking at the bottom image we see a simpler pattern comprised of circles. The circles were placed in a way that they overlap eachother in sequence. The artist then added different colours to the overlapping pieces creating the pattern seen here. This method of using shapes overlapping, and then creating a pattern using colour schemes is commonly used among graphical artists today. It brings inspiration. As one can see we are always borrowing ideas form great artists before us.

 

V and A  2013 [online] Style guide : gothic revival available from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/style-guide-gothic-revival/  Accessed on 19 December 2013