Gothic architecture started to emerge in 11th and 12th century building projects.

The Gothic style as we know it distinctively emerged in the 12th century abbey church of Saint-Denis, near Paris. The Gothic spirit took hold in France, Germany and England where it was manifested through unhindered upward striving: the vertical supplanted horizontals as the dominant line in architecture; the pointed arch replaced the round arch of the Romans; the almond shape, or mandorla, was preferred. Gothic writing forms reflected this aesthetic. Gothic architecture features stone structures with the use of glass as an extended rate, shortened wall surfaces that supported by external flying buttresses, pointed oval shaped arches, ribbed stone vaults, clustered columns and sharply pointed spires. The similarities between typography and architecture first started in this period. There was an increasing demand for books, and this lead professional scribe to opportunities in writing. Because the movable type hasnt been invented at that time, the interest in emulating handwriting wasnt an interest. This lead scribes to look at architecture, therefore the similarities between typography and architecture came to life. Blackletter is characterized by tight spacing and condensed lettering. Evenly spaced verticals dominated the letterform. Condensing line spacing and letter spacing reduced the amount of costly materials in book production.

As the Gothic spirit reached its apex in the other areas of Western Europe, Humanist scholars in Italy were slowly reviving the culture of antiquity. The Renaissance embrace of ancient Greek and Roman culture spurred a creature wave through Italian art, architecture, literature, as well as letterform design. For the Italians of the fourteenth century, art, science and scholarship had flourished in the Classical period, only to be virtually destroyed by barbarians from the North. They saw it as their mission to revive their glorious past. Starting with Brunelleschi, Renaissance architecture employed the ancient Greek emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry, and the regularity parts. He reintroduced the columns and capitals of Greek temples. Above all, they "translated" a Gothic concept into classical forms, rounding off the pointed arch, which was deemed "barbaric". A true Renaissance architect's ambition was to design a building that was completely devoid of utility. All that mattered was the beauty of the proportions, the harmony of the interior space and the overall grandeur. Practical matters generally made the desire for unity and perfect symmetry unattainable. Donato Bramante had fully assimilated the principles of architecture. His "Tempietto", which was to have been surrounded by a cloister of the same style, featured Doric columns topped with triglyphs and metopes and a small dome. The central cella arising within the building gives the building a completely unique character, while using the full range of the classical vocabulary. Renaissance analysis of form that was being applied to art and architecture was directed towards letterform; resulting in a more mathematically perfect (rationalized) letter. Scholar and architect Leon Battista Alberti considered the circle and the square the most perfect geometric forms and used them as the basis for all designs from architecture to alphabet. He revived the Roman tradition of inscribing monumental letterforms onto building facades Temple Malatestiano. An expert on stone lettering, Felice Feliciano, published the first geometric study of the Roman inscription in 1463. ,they employed a module of a circle enclosed by a square with two diagonal lines extending from corner to corner to define letter proportion. As the Renaissance influences moved northward, artists also applied mathematics to both Roman and Gothic letters, they employed a module of a circle enclosed by a square with two diagonal lines extending from corner to corner to define letter proportion.

D Gothic Creating a manuscript required a serious amount of forethought and planning. The page size was determined and then the areas for text, illustrations and margins were carefully ruled horizontally and vertically. Substantial margins were left on all sides; these areas could be used for decorations. Most commonly the height of the text block was approx. the width of the page, the bottom margin usually the largest and the outer margin and 2/3 of the bottom margin. Type area and paper size are of equal proportions. DECORATED INITIALS Areas of the text layout were left blank for the main illustration and decorative letters. Forerunner of Indention. As book printing developed the empty space was eventually reduced to one or two lines, the accepted indication of a new paragraph. JUSTIFIED TYPE Most text type in manuscripts was laid out in lines justified both left and right. If they became too short, a decorative device was placed in. This was done for a purpose to illustrate the text in decorative area of the page and directed only to extremely intelligent people. Arranging letters that begin with a large initial cap and progressively diminishing in point size as the type runs into the body text.

D Renaisance

New, humanist writings required creating a new type of fonts---more secular, more legible, and more elegant. The usage of paper had gradually replaced parchment and vellum. Gothic typefaces were becoming obsolete. Page designs were rapidly becoming lighter, whiter space were making its appearance. The problem at that time was that ancient Romans didn't have but uppercase, capital letters. While adopting their designs for capitals, Renaissance typographers had to spend more time working on lowercase letter shapes. As a basis, they took Carolingian scripts and changed them significantly to match the Roman uppercase letters and to better adopt to Gutenberg's printing technology.

The texture of the headings (set in all capitals), the text typography, and the outline initial have a subtle yet beautiful contrast. The one-line interval of space separating the information into three areas introduces light and order into the page. The woodcut images represent the best illustrations of their period and are exquisitely blended with the typography, helping to produce a book of serenity and grace. The tone and weight of the illustrations harmonize with the texture of the type. Here Manutius attains an elegant and dynamic asymmetric layout. A masterpiece of graphic design, Manutiuss Hypnerotomachia Poliphili achieved an elegant harmony of typography and illustration that has seldom been equaled. The communicative coordination of the illustrations with the text and the exceptional integration of images and typography indicate that the printer, type designer, author, and artist worked in close together.