Olivia Smith // Master of Fine Arts Thesis
VISUALIZING A WOMAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC BOOKS
IMPROVING FEMALE STUDY METHODS THROUGH VISUAL SUPPLEMENTATION
The Problem:
Christian women are less likely to read the Old Testament prophetic literature. This poses a problem within the Church for Biblical literacy and understanding Scripture as one complete narrative that points to Christ.
What makes prophetic literature so confusing?
Historical & Cultural Gap
Israel and Judah were tiny, separated kingdoms surrounded by massive pagan empires. Politics, daily life, and even the way people spoke were incredibly different from life in the 21st century. Over 2,500 years stand between the Old Testament prophets and Christians today, so their historical and cultural context needs to be understood to properly understand the passages.
Sign Acts & Visions
If you’ve read one of the prophetic books, you have probably come across some strange images or odd instructions from God. For example, in Isaiah 20 the Lord tells the prophet, Isaiah, to walk around without clothing and barefoot for a total of three years (Isaiah 20:2-3). What God was doing was using Isaiah as a symbol of the ashamed nations of Egypt and Cush when Assyria would capture them and lead them into exile, also naked and barefoot (Isaiah 20:4). These sort of sign acts can come off confusing if they are addressed and studied so the reader can fully understand what God was speaking.
Hebrew Literature
“Engagement in the prophetic books isn’t easy because their literature is strange to us. Their poetry can be difficult to catch onto” (Brueggemann vii.). The prophetic books are full of ancient forms of literature, like poetry, chiasms, recursive patterns, etc. A basic understanding will go a long way in studying Scripture.
Prophet Definition
The prophets weren’t fortune tellers and their main job wasn’t to see the future. While future prediction plays a part within the prophetic literature of the Old Testament, there was a deeper meaning to the purpose of the prophets. These had to be men who had the character to deliver the Word of the holy God. Several authors refer to the prophets as part of God’s divine council, therefore, they could not be just anyone.
How to Illuminate Complex Topics
In order to successfully find a solution that truly helps women study Old Testament prophetic books, research was conducted to understand how complex topics—like prophetic literature—can best be illuminated. Through the research, it was discovered that visual aides are incredibly powerful in increasing cognition and understanding. Visuals increase learning by 400% (3M Meeting Network) because the brain processes visuals about 60,000x faster than it processes text (“Imagery Vs Text. Which Does the Brain Prefer?”). Creating a visually interesting solution assists in better understanding and cognition for women seeking to study prophetic literature. The solution/deliverable for this thesis is a basic hand guide on the prophetic books of the Old Testament, which is full of illustrations, charts, and maps to illuminate the complexities of those books.
Design Research
Memorable Content
Research was specifically conducted on what attracts a female audience to specific products, as well as what makes design memorable. It was discovered through several case studies that women are drawn to organic shapes, warmer color palettes, as well as conceptual and meaningful design. Each of these elements was implemented into the final solution.
Design Principles
Every design aspect, from color to hierarchy to the grid to typography, was carefully researched to understand how the final solution could best be designed to effectively communicate to the target audience. The solution is full of warm tones, lively illustrations, a clean grid structure, and easy to read typography to both communicate to and draw in the female target audience.
Visual & Content Analyses
This is where I discovered a gap in the market. While many resources about prophetic literature exist, there wasn’t anything specifically created for women. I found many beautiful Bible studies and many informative commentaries, but nothing that combined beautiful visual supplementation with helpful information. This gap in the market helped me to come up with my final solution.
To see the full research, you can go to my thesis here.