Comfortly Readable
The Creation of HarperCollins Christian Publishing Comfort Print® Typefaces
When stewarding the most popular Bible translations that reach the highest number of Bible readers today, how should we continually rise to that challenge and honor our readers?
How can I, as a publisher, challenge the status quo and improve upon decades of wonderful work by making the niv and other translations more accessible—by making them both more beautiful and more readable?
As a millennial, how do I show the love I have for my peers and for Bible readers of all ages? How do I express the burden I feel to do my part to keep the Bible accessible and foundational for Christians around the world?
THREE DISTINCT TRANSLATIONS, THREE DISTINCT FACES
These are the questions that trouble me as a Bible publisher and as a deep lover of God and his Word, having experienced his rich and beautiful work in my own life and desiring to see that work in the lives of those I love. I’ve worked in Bible publishing for 14 years (with my first decade spent on the marketing side), and I’ve learned a lot about cover designs and packaging. More recently, being on the publishing side, I’ve been immersed in studying the beauty of interior design.
We placed before our team this simple challenge: how can we marry beauty and economics in Bible publishing?
Our entire team drank deeply in the study of what makes a Bible beautiful. While our exploration focused on three distinct areas of making a Bible beautiful, the crown jewel of this initiative came from a renewed focus on what many might think to be the least glamorous expression—the typeface itself. Many Bible publishers have pursued beautiful designs and layouts, using a multitude of typefaces available to anyone. But we decided that beauty begins with the design of the typeface itself. And since HarperCollins Christian Publishing stewards three of the most popular English translations available—the NIV, the KJV, and the NKJV—we decided we would invest in the creation of three distinct typefaces, one for each translation.
Some have asked me why we chose to pursue three typefaces, instead of just one proprietary typeface we could share across our translations. I appreciate that question, and I take joy from helping others understand that, in our view, that vision falls short. Each of these three translations has a unique personality, a unique market, and a unique history. To honor their distinctions, we were compelled to invest significantly in having typefaces created that reflect the unique history and personality for each of those translations.
TYPEFACES – A TOOL TO DESIGN BEAUTIFUL BIBLES
This was no small undertaking! It had never been done before, and, frankly, it was hard to imagine that three typefaces could truly be that distinct.
Yet when I met Klaus Krogh of 2K/DENMARK back in 2015, I knew that if anyone was up to the challenge, it was he and his incredible team at 2K. Bible typeface design is a nuanced design challenge—for it must balance the tension of being beautiful but also readable. Some of the most beautiful typefaces in existence are not necessarily the most readable—and especially not when printed on thin Bible paper and typeset with minimal leading so that more words fit on a page, to make the Bible more portable.
These are just some of the distinct challenges that Bible interior designers face. Designing and printing a Bible has a myriad of constraints, some of which are antithetical to one another, which adds yet another layer to the challenge of producing a good Bible typeface. And then we added the layer of making each of these typefaces reflect a unique nature to each of the translations? It’s a good thing the 2K team thrives on a good challenge!
To our delight, the 3 typefaces have achieved our original goals, and gone far beyond. 2K delivered 24 individual fonts to comprise these 3 typefaces: this was the largest known font commission in history. Not only do these typefaces match the unique personality of each translation, and not only are they stunning on the printed page, but they are also uniquely readable at any size. In my many years in Bible publishing, I have seen nothing like it. 2K has given us the tools to design beautiful Bibles that are more readable than anything in comparison, and to reduce page count so that readers can more easily carry their Bibles around.
COMFORTABLY READABLE
As we analyzed this phenomenon and looked for a way to clearly and quickly communicate the benefit of our new typefaces to our readers, it became clear that since these fonts are comfortable to read at any size, they could best be described as Comfort Print®.
The first Comfort Print® Bibles released in spring of 2017, in the Thomas Nelson KJV translation. This November brings the first wave of Zondervan niv Comfort Print® Bibles, and in January we are releasing the first Thomas Nelson NKJV Comfort Print® editions. More are coming in the future, but this will be the first time readers can buy Comfort Print® in their favorite translations.
The reception to our Comfort Print® Bibles has been beyond our expectations, both from our retail partners and from our Bible readers, and it brings us deep joy to know we are making the Bible easier to read and understand through these typefaces!
I’ve provided this article as a personal reflection of my time in Bible publishing and my heart, but it certainly reflects also the heart and focus of our entire Bible publishing team here at HarperCollins Christian Publishing. We take our responsibility to steward God’s Word with the utmost of reverence, trembling, and care. Thanks to our partnership with 2K, we are living out this mission and privilege of impacting lives with God’s Word!
Melinda Bouma
Associate Publisher,
HarperCollins Christian Publishing - Zondervan
Melinda Bouma is Associate Publisher for Zondervan Bible Group, where she oversees acquisitions and product development strategy and manages the Zondervan Bible P&L. In particular she enjoys coaching the editors who she considers the best in the industry.
Melinda is a self-confessed millennial, who following her passion for the word of God has worked in Bible publishing for 14 years. She holds an MBA in marketing and spend her first decade in Bible Publishing working with the perspective of consumers expectations and experiences. A background that continues to shape her approach as a readers' first publisher. Currently, she is taking a respite after recently giving birth to a beautiful baby girl.
