Blues in the Night
Written by Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet
Editor's Jottings
From early on in editing the new Siddur we faced the problem of how to show passages that are only read on certain occasions and could otherwise be ignored or skipped. In the first draft we tried using a grey background to the text, but this made it difficult for some people to differentiate the letters. Printing the passages themselves in a lighter print raised the same problem.
The idea of a separate colour seemed extravagant till we looked into the cost. It did not add more than a couple of pence per copy so we went ahead with 2 colour production.
But if a colour, then which? For example, it had to work for people who are colour blind. Though Christian prayer books use a bright red we did not feel that this was our colour. After some trial and error we settled on blue, the colour that most types of colour blindness can cope with. But which blue? If it was too dark it would not be distinguishable from the black in poor lighting. If it was too light we may have the same problem of seeing it as we had with shades of grey. After trying various possibilities with volunteers we settled on the shade used by our Dutch publisher in editions of the Bible as most suitable to our needs. Technically it is Process Blue U. Whatever the practical problems that its use solves, it does add a completely new dimension to the book.
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