John Frank
Rev., ordained minister of the Gospel with Bethany Ministerial Fellowship Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counseling, from Syracuse Universiy, NY CRC Certified Rehabilitation Counselor
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Posted in: Large Print Bibles
I recently discovered (2017) an NIV super giant print Bible in 17 point font and (2021) an ESV super giant print Bible in 17 point font. The ESV weighs 5.4 pounds. and is $36 on amazon, $31 plus shipping on Christianbooks.com. The type of font not only its size matters too. Fonts may have the same size, but one type or style will be larger than another. Since so many Christian brick and mortar bookstores are no more, I have not been able to look at both the NIV and the ESV Super Giant print Bibles and try reading them side by side. For myself, the NIV print was too small. The ESV even with the same 17 point font may be easier to read if the font type or style is larger, but they do not tell the font style so I do not know yet and have not compared them. Just a hint, do not get it monogrammed if you think you might need to return it. Please let me know if you find other truly large print (18 point font or larger) Bibles. I am still looking for The Amplified, The Message, and the American Standard Version (ASV).
Dr. John Jay Frank
Posted in: Using Computers for Inclusive Worship
Thanks for the comment Stanley.
I’m glad you raise the issue of aesthetics and/or colors. It is a valid question that I believe has not
been asked or answered in regard to computers and projectors, simply because they are so new in the church. Do we just go with the latest program, in this case Mediashout? Do we just put up pretty pictures of scenery with words in front of them? Is whatever the younger generation wants, the way to go? Do we ask for everyone’s opinion about their preferred colors?
Do we need to reinvent that wheel, or re-establish our moral rational for what we do in church, and what is the nature of Christian art? I think not, but I may be wrong.
In my outline I am conveying what has been researched on using projectors. These are not my opinions. The color scheme (yellow letters with a plain medium blue background) is the optimal contrast and optimal color scheme. If what you want to do is insure that the most people can read your message, that is what you will use. That is what the best and latest research has come up with.
Yes, there are personal preferences. Yes, variations can be included, I find it most amusing, and telling that on the website of the American Foundation for the Blind (afb.org) they allow you to change colors very easily and they use a variety of color combinations on their first page EXCEPT on the box that says DONATE NOW. Guess what colors are used for that important message - yep, medium blue background and yellow letters. That want you to read it, understand it and apply it and not simply enjoy the colors!
If you want people to get the message, do not use fancy effects or personal aesthetics, instead, imitate what God created when he gave us a blue sky and a yellow sun. He wanted us to get the message too! He also wanted it to be appropriate for our nervous systems which he also made and we scientists are slowly coming to realize. What a surprise. Yes we have grey days and black nights, but there is hope - joy comes in the morning!
I looked at the slide you made with 36 point Trebuchet font using grey letters and dark blue background using half the screen and wondered how best to explain this.
On the slide sample I gave I used Arial 80 point and Arial 54 point font and filled the entire screen. Those were two additional points in my outline, so, if you want to try other colors and fonts it would be better not to leave out using the largest font size possible with a meaningful chunk of words and filling the entire screen.
Are those two aesthetic points to be discussed as well? Maybe, I do not think this dialogue has been carried out in church with ALL the elements I offered in my outline included in the discussion, so maybe it needs to be.
I still wonder how much needs to be taught, tried, and re-invented. There are a lot of details in the outline I wrote and I guess it will take time to try them all out. At my church, I’m wondering when they will get to the part about large print bulletins!
John