Listen With Your Eyes
“Just where is your head?”
Growing up, I often got lost in my own world instead of focusing on whatever was at hand. I’ve since learned that I take in information primarily through listening. Unless I make an effort, I tend to miss a lot of nonauditory details—especially visuals—and what they are trying to communicate.
Fortunately, the designers at Liguori Publications don’t have that problem. They know exactly how to use visuals to convey messages, carefully choosing images and weaving them into text so skillfully that sometimes it seems the piece couldn’t have been written without them. It’s time-consuming, complex work, but it’s worth the effort because it makes me—and, we hope, you—stop and think a bit more deeply about the message the writer is expressing.
Our designers are part of a global community of artists who use their talents to convey messages of faith and spirituality. Believing that the Gospel message is meant for the entire person, the Church has long encouraged artists to evangelize us through our senses. Musicians write song and chant, sculptors create statues, artisans produce stained-glass windows and mosaics—the ways of spreading the Good News through art are endless.
Remaining relevant means periodically stepping back and examining how effectively we communicate our message. That’s why in this issue of Liguorian, you’ll see our designers have been hard at work updating our look. (Don’t worry. We’re not going to discontinue “The Lighter Side.”) Specifically, the columns have been redesigned and the recommended reading, Bible-quiz, and crossword pages have a new layout. To open up more of the magazine to you, we now include a contributors’ section, with photos of our authors.
How a message is communicated is as important as the message itself. In a magazine, this requires blending words, images, fonts, and design to focus readers’ attention on the bigger picture—and out of their own heads. The entire staff at Liguori is committed to using their rich and diverse talents to build up the kingdom of God, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Liguorian.