Here’s what Nikki Getman, senior marketing director for Thomas Nelson Bibles, said about the design of the NET Full Notes edition:

“I will never forget when we saw the first design recommendations. We see so many Bible designs come through, and they are usually iterations on well-worn page layouts. Their solutions were strikingly different and yet grounded in historic Scripture design. The standout was a page design that brought the reader’s focus to a single column of semibold Scripture text wrapped on three sides by columns of commentary in a slightly smaller size and a dark gray color. The sheer amount of notes could have overwhelmed and overshadowed the Scripture text, but the effect of 2K’s innovative layout, as well as the weight and color of the different components, is that the Bible text’s primacy remains clear even as the notes are made remarkably easy to read. The design is a modern take on a Jewish Talmud design from about 2,000 years ago, and also references medieval illuminated Bibles.

Another impressive decision the 2K team made was aligning the Scripture text at the top of the page, and then filling the commentary columns from the bottom of the page. This approach allowed them to line-match both the Scripture text and commentary so that when the pages are printed back-to-back on the thin Bible paper, there is minimal show-through and optimal readability. Each of the 2,400 pages in the final edition was carefully built for appropriate breaks in the Bible text balanced with the amount of notes matched to them.”