Victorian Style Graphic Design
Samples of Victorian Style Graphic Design
The Victorian era of Britain was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign which ran from 1837 to 1901 and was a time of strong moral and religious beliefs. The Victorians loved complex and ornate objects and this influence filtered through to all areas of design including architecture, furniture, interiors, fashion, typography and commercial art.
The Victorian style was deeply influenced by their nostalgia for objects from the past. The Victorian design style almost always filled the entire page with images and type. Typical design elements of early Victorian style were the use of outer decorative borders and elaborate typography. Symmetry was also used heavily in layout and design.
Later Victorian style tended to use the decorative borders less but still used ornate type and romantic imagery. Typography through the Victorian era generally appeared in a curve or wave and was commonly encompassed in a banner.
To Recap, the main characteristics of the Victorian graphic design style are...
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decorative outer borders
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elaborate typography
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symmetry
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highly ornate and 'busy' imagery
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very few straight lines or edges
More info
Another great font is IM Fell DW Pica. This only comes in two styles: both 400 weight, one italic. However there are a bunch of other IM fell fonts, including nice small caps varients. Looks better at larger sizes IMO. This paragraph is set at 30px.
Images
