Designing a Hymnal

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in the process of creating a designing a new hymnal, to replace the well-used Hymns of 1985, and a new songbook for children to replace the 1989 Children’s Songbook. In my research, I’ve been able to compare a lot of Latter-day Saint hymnals, and a sampling of modern Christian hymnals, so I thought it would be fun to present my ideas.

Choosing songs

Fonts and music engraving

I don’t have a lot of experience in this area, but there are a lot of other resources available for choosing fonts and choosing music engraving software. Whatever you use, make sure it’s flexible for various uses (especially if you plan on producing digital editions of your hymnal).

Song layout

Frontmatter and backmatter

Designing the cover

Designing a set of hymnals

Other features to consider

Designing a digital hymnal