7 Deadly Sins update

7 Deadly Sins Narrative

Thinking about the history of typography and the introduction of the 7 Deadly Sins by Pope Gregory, I felt that both topics share similar concepts. Although Pope Gregory’s 7 Deadly Sins were created in the 6^th century, these religious rules became influential in Medieval Times becoming part of the social order and lifestyles – written about by the monk’s in their typographic manuscripts.  I’m using Chess a game of the Middle Ages to represent the 7 Deadly Sins. The Chess pieces represent the sins as the King-Pride, Queen-Envy, Bishop-Greed, and Knight-Wrath: Pawn (Peasants)–Sloth, Rook (Castle)-Gluttony and the Game Board (Board of Life)- Lust. However, these medieval characters and sins are still apart of today’s wants and society. The chess pieces can be relatable to people throughout history and people can choose to identify with those characters.

To create the grid narratives, the chess board is the piece that pulls all the characters together – it represents life, society and lustful desires.  As each character in the game moves across the board they conquer their interests with the ultimate goal of winning. As in life, if you are motivated by your sin, you will move towards that goal. For example, a King is prideful and hungers for power; or Bishops during the Middle Ages were wealthy and motivated by greed.  Queens were envious of others positions and wanted to be as strong as the King or to possess the most beauty. A Rook represents the castle and all gluttony activity within. The Knights battled and were filled with wrath. The Pawn represented the Peasants bound to servitude and saw no way to climb the social order.  Surprisingly, they were seen as being filled with sloth because they had no motivation in life. Today, people also possess these same desires, motivations and social orders.

For the design, I will be using an older, serif medieval typeface, such as Baskerville. I feel this will contribute to setting the tone and mood of the grids. The Middle Ages was a period of conquer, power and death – the elements of sin. Today these are still part of society and I would use some of today’s typographic words to represent the 7 Deadly Sins, like Netflix or road rage. The words used will form the chess pieces. The chessboard will be in the center tying the grids together. The chessboard is also important because it represents good and evil, white and black squares and the choices we can make.