Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design

Mainz Bible, and the Celtic illuminated manuscript The Book of Kells,for
instance. But the specimens that I’ve collected in the subway around Times
Square and elsewhere in New York share a crudeness that can only be
described as a common visual language—one that appeals to those who
embrace the “Word.” Meanwhile, those who produce these in large
quantities truly believe that they will be read regardless of their physical
attributes—indeed, the more austere, the more righteous.
Some leaflets are, however, better designed than others, and a few
professional ones are clear exceptions to the rule. Chick Publications
produces the most widely distributed and professional of all religious
handouts. Hundreds of these small comic book–sized gospels and
testimonies are drawn and written by Jack Chick, and follow a standardized
format that has become so well known that the booklets have already been
parodied. But despite the comic form, these publications are no joking
matter. According to Chick’s Web site (Mr. Chick refused to be
interviewed for this article, and instead I was referred to http://www.chick.comfor
“all I needed to learn”), his career as “a publisher for Christ” began over
forty years ago when a missionary broadcaster from the Voice of China and
Asia told him that multitudes of Chinese people had been won to
communism through mass distribution of cartoon booklets. Jack felt that
“God was leading him to use the same technique to win multitudes to the
Lord Jesus Christ.” Thinking that what worked for communism would
work for Christianity, he subsequently produced hundreds of comics,
presumably for a young audience, of such parables as The Loser(“He was
afraid of everything. But God changed Gideon from a loser to a great
leader”),Party Girl(“A young woman’s brush with death reveals Satan’s plot
for her destruction”), and Sin Busters(“Nobody can keep the Ten
Commandments. Jesus is the only way to heaven”). Chick’s conventional
drawing style was at first considered sacrilegious in evangelical circles, but
this master of dramatic narrative has managed to become ubiquitous in the
gospel tract business over the years. The comics are issued on a frequent
schedule and sold in bulk inexpensively through the Web site. Copies of
each edition (often in various translations) are printed in the millions, and
buyers are encouraged to distribute them on the streets for free.
Chick’s pamphlets are the most ambitious, yet other exceptions to
the usual fare include The Bridge to Life,produced by a company called
“Navpress, A Ministry of Navigators,” because it adeptly employs
sophisticated typography as well as graphic smarts. This small booklet is
comprised of step-by-step diagrams that effectively show man traversing
the proverbial abyss of sin toward the precipice of salvation. Similarly, the
full-color High Alert: Security Riskpublished by Preach the Word Ministries