Media Guide: 6. Graphics, A Christian Guide to Spirituality

Q: Your cover and title page offer some interesting graphics. What is the story here?

A: One of the lessons of my experience blogging is that graphics can make or break a post. People identity with images more than text. For this reason, I am sensitive to the visual appearance of my writing and agonized over the details of visual layout of my book–from typeface choices to images.

The color photograph on the cover of my book is of a 12th century mosaic of Christ called the Hagia Sophia. This mosaic is on display in the basilica also known as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Hagia Sophia means holy wisdom in Greek.

The black and white photograph opposite my title page is a photograph of Old Polar Tree Road in Centreville, Virginia which I took with my cell phone on March 6, 2014. Polar Tree Road was cut in two when route 28 was turned into a highway and Old Polar Tree Road was chained off and converted into a park.

Both images give the book a hint of a retro look. This is deliberate. They make the point that spiritual truths do not change with the years. In the spiritual realm, new ideas are often fads that are later proven to be false.

By contrast, the title is printed in Arial bold–a postmodern typeface often associated with computer graphics.

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