Meet Tory Herman, Art Director and Web Developer at Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Tory started working at Augsburg Fortress in 2010, one year after the publication of the first edition of Lutheran Study Bible. He developed the interior design for the upcoming Lutheran Study Bible, Second Edition and then carried out that design as he typeset all 2,004 pages of the Bible.
What exactly does a Bible typesetter do?
A typesetter is in charge of taking a manuscript from a writer and applying a specified design to the text. Once the text is properly styled with the design template (things like heading levels, italics, bold, etc.), that’s when the real typesetting begins. The typesetter must go page by page, paragraph by paragraph, and fine tune the flow of the text to provide the best experience for the reader.
There’s typesetting and there’s design. What’s the difference? What were some parts of the Bible where you needed to lean into your design expertise rather than just executing typesetting?
I worked on both the design and the actual typesetting of the Bible, so I was able to be a part of the entire production process. The design is the start of the production process—overall, what do we want this to look like? Things taken into consideration are the typefaces, colors, size and proportion of different elements within the text, etc. With those questions answered, a template is created for a few sample pages for the typesetter to use as a guide. When the text is this robust, it is hard for the template to account for every edge case that could occur, so I had to make design decisions and adjustments throughout the entire process. I found Psalms to be the book of the Bible that required the most extensive problem solving during typesetting.
Tell us specifics about fonts in this Bible. What decisions did you make about Bible typography?
The body of the Lutheran Study Bible is Arno with Neutraface used for headings. The sidebar content uses Univers Condensed. Arno was chosen for its readability, especially at small sizes. Neutraface, a geometric sans-serif, was chosen to complement the body copy without overpowering it. I really like how clean and modern Neutraface feels and how it sets the tone of design of the Lutheran Study Bible.
What are some of your favorite parts of the design of Lutheran Study Bible, Second Edition?
I tend to be a bit of a minimalist when it comes to design. I think the updates to the design of the Second Edition, namely the new icons and covers, do a good job of refreshing the feel of the Lutheran Study Bible without being over the top.
How many Bibles published by Augsburg Fortress have you typeset? Any highlights to share?
This is the second Bible I have typeset for Augsburg Fortress from start to finish, though there are a few more in the works already. Designing and typesetting this Bible has provided me probably my greatest sense of accomplishment since I have worked at Augsburg Fortress. It was such an immense undertaking and over a year of work.
You had a chance to inspect this Bible and approve the quality check before it was stocked in our warehouse. What thoughts went through your mind opening up the box full of Bibles and cutting the shrink wrap?
Approving anything that is being printed is terrifying and a big responsibility. When the product you’re reviewing is over 2000 pages that makes it even scarier. I was very happy with how it turned out. Phew.
How do you hope the design of Lutheran Study Bible, Second Edition helps to enrich people’s experience reading God’s Word?
Overall, I hope the design makes this Bible easy to use and that the user experience of its readers is positive. I think a good design is a like a good umpire—they’re doing their job best when you don’t even notice them.
We are exceedingly grateful for the consistently excellent work and care that Tory puts into all of his projects. Check out his work on Lutheran Study Bible, Second Edition NRSVue today!