Like the Israelites wandering and waiting 40 years in the wilderness, you too have had to wait an extra week for a new Word design since I didn’t post one last week. And just like Yahweh had mercy on the Israelites and let them enter the Promised Land, so too will I have mercy on you and give you a new Word design this week, even posting it a day early. (See how I subtly implied that you are like the impatient Israelites and I am like God Almighty? That’s a little trick I like to call “spiritual abuse” and now I’ve just taught you how to do it too. Watch and learn, kids. Watch and learn.)

Hi, it’s John. Sincerely, John.

If you measure the length of books of the Bible by the amount words they have, 2 John is the second shortest book at 303 words. Two weeks from now, we’ll be on Jude which is the fourth shortest book (613 words) and next week’s book, 3 John, takes the crown for shortest book in the Bible, coming in at 299 words. Why am I mentioning this? I’m glad you asked…

Biblical Design 101

When I arrive at a longer book like Genesis, Psalms or Matthew, it’s fairly easy to find a passage to design. Often times the most difficult part about those books is narrowing down on which passage to choose, because there are so many good ones. However, doing a design for a short book can be pretty interesting challenge, especially when the book doesn’t have a ton of strong visual language. What passage do I design when I can’t find any passages to design? But when the Bible gives you water, you do your best to turn it into wine, right?

2 John really didn’t have much that jumped out to me visually, so I went with what seemed to be John’s central theme. Love. I’m not a Biblical scholar, but I think he picked up that whole “love” thing from some carpenter guy. In the absence of any huge inspiration, I usually just try to make a design look as cool as possible, taking the chance to try out a certain design style I like. For this design, I went back to a style that many designers have done, but Mark Weaver may be best known for it. One of my Micah designs also drew on Mark’s style. (Make sure you check out Mark’s amazing work if you haven’t already.)

Hey, It’s me and I’m begging.

This nearly 2 year long design project is nearing it’s end and there are only 3 books left! Thanks again to all of you who have followed along, whether you started at Genesis or 1 John. I’d love to generate some buzz for the end of this project, so if you’ve enjoyed this series of designs, the free print giveaways and the great advice I dish out on things like spiritual abuse, please consider blabbing about my Word Designs on any and every social sharing channel you have. If you do, I guarantee that your mansion in heaven will double in size.*

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* Guarantee is not guaranteed.

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4 Responses

1. Martin Joel says:

   October 20, 2011 at 1:02 pm

   love the project man. You doing great bro. Just to say thanks, you have inspired me to use my talents for the glory of the king.

   Reply
   • Jim LePage says:

     October 24, 2011 at 2:10 pm

     Thanks, Martin! I love hearing stuff like that!

     Reply
2. loswl says:

   October 25, 2011 at 8:11 am

   You have done some great work with this series, love how you managed to keep the style consistent, but yet each piece is so different. I haven’t had a chance to check them all out and read your commentaries, but I submitted your link to as much social networks, relating to Design and Christianity…..I “guarantee” you will get a lot of hits!!!!!!! Keep up the good work :)

   Reply
   • Jim LePage says:

     October 25, 2011 at 7:04 pm

     Thanks, loswl! I appreciate all the support you’ve given to the project, all the way back to the early days!

     Reply