Designing a Bible presents several immediate challenges right at the beginning: many people consider it to be sacred text, so errors may come across as insulting or even blasphemous, rather than simply annoying; it's got a HUGE audience (How do you market the same book to 10- and 90-year-olds?), and because it's used from light reading to in-depth study, it can be a complicated book to design.
Not to mention that the Bible's been done, in all kinds of permutations, translations and interpretations since Gutenberg himself. As designers, how do we present this text in a way that adds something to the overwhelming body of Bibles already in existence?
The Bible Design Blog is dedicated to following the designers who are trying to do exactly that. One of the most recent entries, in fact, is about a new flipbook Bible!
The blog (again, it's at http://www.bibledesignblog.com/ in case my hyperlink fails for some reason) also details e-Bibles, spiral-bound "blank Bibles" with generous blank pages for notes, and a 400th anniversary of the King James translation, as well as many others.
What was most interesting to me (besides seeing so many markedly different versions next to each other) was seeing what elements people highlighted, such as flexibility of the cover and ease of navigation.
Which Bibles do you find interesting/appealing (or a complete turn-off)? Which design elements strike you as most important?
