Polly Bond entry 2026
Category: Visual Arts / Layout
Is Joy to be Taken for Granted?
Cover page for the winter 2025/26 edition of the Delaware Communion Magazine
Goals: The goal of this visual design was to create a cover image that serves as a visual meditation on Advent hope in a fractured and wounded world. The broken, reassembled round pottery represents the world itself—cracked, fragile, and pieced together again—symbolizing the moral injury, grief, and deep sorrow carried by so many today. Resting on the open pages of John 15 and 16, the physical weight of this “world” presses into the text, reflecting how human suffering presses upon our attempts to understand scripture and find meaning.
A sliver of light breaking through one shard of the pottery signifies Christ’s light entering even the most broken places, while the contrasting figures—one turned toward the light with openness and hope, the other cast in shadow and turned downward—reflect the varied human experiences of sorrow and renewed joy.
Ultimately, the goal for this layout was to draw readers into the accompanying article, Is Joy to be Taken for Granted?, by offering a visual meditation that communicates hope not as naïve optimism, but as Christ-centered joy emerging from wounded places.
Audience: This visual entry was created for readers of the Episcopal Church in Delaware and for a broader faith-based audience.
Summary: The cover image visually reflects the article’s meditation on Advent hope in a fragmented and hurting world. The broken, reassembled round pottery represents our wounded world itself — cracked, fragile, and pieced together again — symbolizing the moral injuries and deep sorrows carried by so many today. Resting on the open pages of John 15 and 16 — Jesus’ promise that “your joy may be complete” — the weight of this “world” bends the corner of the text, mirroring the way suffering presses upon our lives and our attempts to make meaning.
From one shard of the pottery, a sliver of light breaks through, revealing that even in brokenness, Christ’s light still enters. The joyful figure looking toward that light embodies the hope and possibility of restored meaning and renewed joy. In contrast, the silhouette on the far right, cast in shadow and facing downward, represents those who dwell in sorrow, injury, or despair. Together, the image invites us to consider how Christ meets us in all these places—our darkness, our longing, and our fragile hope—offering a joy that is deep, healing, and complete.
This image was created using Indesign.
Metrics: Effectiveness was measured through reader engagement and qualitative response. Metrics indicated a strong level of reader interest, with a notable number of readers navigating directly to the accompanying article following publication of the magazine, suggesting that the cover image successfully drew attention and invited engagement.