The Jesus Comic - iPhone/iTouch app

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Permalink Reply by Clyde Taber on January 6, 2010 at 6:50pm

Jason,

I bought the iPhone app and showed it to my kids. They couldn't always follow the storyline. Are there any descriptions that goes with each scene?

Clyde

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Permalink Reply by Jason Ramasami on January 7, 2010 at 1:44am

Hey Clyde

I am thrilled that you have had a chance to look at it. One of the tensions for me in putting this together was whether to make it all exposed and clear or to leave it as more of a visual puzzle. I have erred on the side of the original aim - presenting a visual meditation of the events and their meaning (Jesus building a bridge to life by his death and resurrection).

We beta tested it with a few people who were frustrated in the same way and decided to put two things in place:

a. a text reference at the start of each chapter heading which gives a sense of the context (please see the 'minimal text' page on thejesuscomic.com for further info)
b. a more detailed explanation of the scroll symbols that appear throughout the comic - these have a dedicated page on thejesuscomic.com - called 'the BIG story' page.

Beyond that you could tell me which chapter you don't get and I would be happy to explain.

The thing which I think the VSN is likely to be strong on is the idea of exploring visual language and the pure difficulty of having to work things out.

Thanks so much for your feedback - please let me know what you think.

Jason

PS this is version 1 of the app and your feedback will probably influence what we do in the future.

This doesn't mean

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Permalink Reply by Antoine RJ Wright on January 7, 2010 at 12:28am

Ooooh, I like this. Similar to what The Jesus Film project has done - but I don't know that they've yet gone the route of making an app out of their content. Good work, do you mind if I post this at Mobile Ministry Magazine?

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Permalink Reply by Jason Ramasami on January 7, 2010 at 1:45am

That was exactly the thinking behind the naming of it!

I would love it if you shared this with MMM.

Anyone else you could tell would be a plus. Have you seen the facebook page? It is linked on the website (thejesuscomic.com).

J

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Permalink Reply by Antoine RJ Wright on January 8, 2010 at 8:46pm

Haven't seen the FB page (don't have an account there), but will be sure to pass the link to others when I post. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Clyde Taber on January 7, 2010 at 7:23pm

Jason,
Thanks for the reply. The first time I looked at the app I didn't see the informational button at the beginning of each chapter. That is helpful to give me a context. Without that, I was lost on many of the chapters. After reading the info button, I could follow the first few I looked at. Chapter 7 was difficult to follow even with the verse context.

I'm still confused by the crown. Is that always the symbol for God Himself or for His lordship? Because I use the app on my iPhone, I'm not used to going to a website to understand the app. I'm used to it being self-explanatory.

I'm all for not making it too easy. I understand the desire there.

Do you have a sense for how God is using this? You're doing visual story in a simple, but powerful way.

Clyde

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Permalink Reply by Antoine RJ Wright on January 9, 2010 at 9:44am

Do you plan on keeping/making this available in a non-app (aka web-based) format for those whom would like the comic, but aren't on an iPhone (the percentage of iPhone users is pretty small compared to the rest of the market, and I'm sure that this would be a solid content offering given how comics and mobile seem tailor made for one another)?

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