The Apocalypse

During the reign of Nero, John of Patmos, exiled on a tiny island in the Aegean Sea between Greece and modern-day Turkey, was believed to have written this prophetic revelation of End Times. It is the final book in the New Testament of the Christian Bible in which the cataclysmic battle between good and evil transpires. This Armageddon is filled with warring angels, plagues, geological disasters, monstrous dragons and The Antichrist decimating all of the Earth.

For centuries, artists such as Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, and William Morris have used these biblical stories as content for their visual interpretations. The heritage has continued with graphic designers such as Bradbury Thompson (with his Washburn Bible) visualizing the material.

To fulfill the thesis requirements of Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Indiana University, I chose to follow in this tradition and design a contemporary Book of the Apocalypse. The material was grand and the challenge felt appropriate in scope.

This 140-page 13” x 20” x 3” book rests in a clamshell box with a crushed red velvet interior. It is printed on Indian Handmade Rag and Gunny paper, and has a gold foil embossed cover.

It is broken down into 22 chapters across 7 acts. Verse numbers display on the left with their accompanying locations shown as printing dingbats throughout the text. The voice of God and Christ are set in gold text, angels and saints in burgundy, and John the narrator in black. Each speaker has an assigned grid placement that can vary in size and break from its location for emphasis. Drawings, paintings and etchings from history are used to illustrate the content as well as additional typographic textures painted into the background for emotional accent.