A Brief Introduction to the New Testament

Erman. Bart D,  A Brief Introduction to the New Testament. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

This textbook appears to use Times New Roman for the main body text as well as for the heading. The subheading font appears to be Gill Sans.

This particular layout was found in a textbook purchased for an elective last semester. The audience for this textbook is University students.

The layout of this textbook uses a two column grid. This grid system breaks up large blocks of text, making it easier to read. This layout also allows for the addition of photos throughout, giving the mind and eye a break from large amounts of text. In this context this break is important because the text is in itself broken up into different sections and ideas, it is not meant to be a completely linear story line. It is interesting to note that the images are flush right, which leaves a blank space to the left of the image. This provides an even larger visual rest between the text and the image.

When text that is non linear in nature must be formatted, it is an effective method to break up the text into smaller blocks using columns and images. Smaller text blocks allow for a different experience while reading that is less immersive. It allows the reader to quickly identify separate concepts and only read what pertains to them at that moment. This is what I will remember from this layout.