Spiritually: Pushing into deeper relationship with God as I really needed him to be my everything. This journey has been a rollercoaster ride. There were many times of utter exhaustion and total isolation, the sacrifice was huge for an extrovert socialite and when everything in my soul wanted to go out and play or my body wanted to stop I had to choose to continue and the only way that was possible was to strengthen myself in the Lord!

Scripture excerpts from the New Revised Standard Version, the New King James Version, and the Good News Translation Finally, I recommend this book following Edward Tufte’s challenges in “ Seeing with fresh eyes“. In line with Tufte’s principles, Karen is led in her design by content. That is central to the design. Your eyes are drawn to the key content communicated in the Bible. She also avoids separating text, charts, images into different sections. They are brought together where they help communicate data. I hope this review helps open your eyes to the power of such boundary-crossing data viz design. How do you structure a visualisation of the data in the Bible? The ESV Reader's Bible, Six-Volume Set: With Chapter and Verse Numbers is produced with materials and formatting that provide a unique reading experience fitting for God’s holy Word. Oh and learning Excel! I moved from refusing to work with it, to thinking ‘I guess its ok’, to ‘ach I LOVE Excel!’ Without learning that skill, to create and analyse data, nothing could be designed!

The Infographic Bible

For new and seasoned believers alike, The Ultimate Infographic Guide to the Bible delivers invaluable historical, cultural, and contextual insights so you can better understand Scripture. These fascinating charts, graphics, and timelines will enrich your reading experience by With God, we get to do those things the world says are impossible. Of course it takes risk and vulnerability from us, and creating this book has taken both! I basically love all things paper and ink, working as an illustrator and conceptual designer for print for 24 years and in publishing for 17 of those. That experience stretched across different media including: top magazines; Alpha and HTB; global charities like World Vision and Zacharias Trust and publishers including HarperCollins, Hodder & Stoughton and Penguin Random House. I simply could not have done this journey without a very real relationship with Jesus, Father God (who I call ‘our Dad’) and the wonderful Holy Spirit. When I heard what it was my spirit just leapt! Not only was it in this visual language which is particularly helpful for those who are visual learners like me, it was to be part of a prestigious set of infographic books by HarperCollins but most of all it was about Jesus… unbelievably above and beyond what I ever dared to dream or hope or imagine!

It takes about 10 hours total to read all four Gospels and the book of Acts. If you spend 20 minutes per day, you could read all 5 books in just 1 month. It takes about 15 hours to read all of the Prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi. Spend just 30 minutes a day reading the Prophets, and a month from now you will have finished all 17 prophetic books. What other patterns can you find? That looked like volunteers doing my cleaning, shopping and sometimes cooking for me while my bottom was firmly fixed to my studio seat! But most importantly the project was supported with prayer. (see p218) The process began with gathering a team of people who would support the project and be the scaffold to allow an infographic to be created. That team included theological advisors, legal, admin, publishing and technical support as well as some training for me. This infographic is the bridging of the Old and New Testaments. It spans where the paper changes from the Old Testament’s uncoated, to the New Testament’s coated paper. I know it sounds geeky but it’s been strategically placed so the reader can experience the shift between testaments and between prophecy and fulfillment. Even if it was your first encounter with the Bible, your fingers would feel the change.

Takeaway

I had been designing & illustrating for HarperCollins for 9 years when they invited me to pitch for this project in 2013. HarperCollins had already published successful Infographic books like ‘Information is Beautiful’ by David McCandless and were considered industry leaders in this genre, their next step was to produce a Bible in this format! This was an unbelievable moment for me to be invited to pitch because usually, the author pursues the publisher, not the other way round. This is a zoomed-in prelude to ‘All the Prophecies about Jesus,’ using the same data set and key, and, of course, all the same design elements. The infographics range from simple to complex, showing different levels of information. Look out for a key on the more complex ones to help you process that information. Remember that the graphics take the leading role with the text playing only a supportive one. Covering themes such as the First Family Tree, the Nature and Character of God to the Sacrificial System and Jesus I AM, this fascinating book, painstakingly gathered and presented in this unique and beautiful way will appeal to both the Christian and non-religious readers alike and provide unexpected insight into (one of) the most important book/s ever written. There are some deeper levels of information that the reader can explore should they wish to, but not doing so won’t detract from the main messages of the infographic.

I would absolutely recommend “The Infographic Bible” to anyone wanting to enhance their Bible studying, and better understand Scripture. You definitely won’t be disappointed with the amazing amount of thought, effort, and work that was put into creating this sensational Bible study tool. This infographic is both playful (a key way to engage your audience) and represents lots of data prep to identify a matrix alignment of categories that matter most. The sunshine of Solomon’s wealth uses radial for impact (p94) Catching up on some sleep I think… and then who knows, it’s one of the things I love about being freelance and get so excited working with Jesus, because who knows the doors he is going to open next! About the Infographic BibleSome of the key people in my project support team, again in various roles, were also from Vineyard, people like Miriam, Abi, and our Chloe (see pp216-217). Carlisle Vineyard really was and still is a key place of support, they really did make up quite a lot of my personal support team and I shall be eternally thankful! The heart of this book is all about restored relationships, it had to be birthed through community we were created to flourish in it!) This incredible gift of co-creating with him is extended to every single person and it’s in that place that dreams are birthed, awaked and activated into reality. My passion is to work with God to awaken, activate and affirm creatives, to rise up and open Kingdom doors. The book of Revelation proclaims the door that Jesus opens no man can shut! Whether you’re reading God’s Word for the first time or the fortieth, you’re bound to ask questions along the way: Why can I be confident the Bible is reliable? Who decided which books made the final cut? What else do I need to know to get the most out of what I’m reading?