Crush's Divine Intervention: Makeover the Bible

The Holy Bible is, for many, the ultimate untouchable text. It's a sacred object, a historical artifact, and for centuries, its design has been dictated by a kind of solemn, leather-bound tradition. So when the UK design agency Crush was commissioned to 'makeover' the bible, the task was not just a design challenge, but a cultural one. Their project, which involved creating 66 unique cover designs for the books of the King James Bible, is a bold and fascinating attempt to re-engage a modern audience with an ancient text through the power of contemporary graphic design.

The resulting covers are a world away from the traditional gold-leaf and faux-leather. Crush have employed a diverse range of modern design vernaculars to interpret the content of each book. The book of Genesis is given a stark, minimalist treatment reminiscent of a sci-fi novel. Leviticus, with its dense and often bewildering laws, is presented as a dauntingly complex technical manual. The book of Job's story of suffering is referenced with a simple, poignant image of a sticking plaster. Some designs are witty, some are abstract, and some are genuinely provocative, forcing the viewer to reconsider their preconceptions about the text itself.

This project is a brilliant demonstration of how design can act as a form of commentary and interpretation. By stripping away the weight of tradition and approaching the Bible as a collection of diverse literary works—history, poetry, law, prophecy—Crush have opened up new ways of seeing and understanding it. They haven't altered a single word of the text, but by reframing it in a modern visual language, they've made it feel new, challenging, and relevant again. It's a divine intervention of a different sort, one that proves even the oldest stories can be told in new ways.