Mr. John Robinson: Being the Managing Editor
Author: David Markopoulos | Living Education
These summaries are written to give our audience an idea of the special forum messages our students have access to as part of the Living Education-Charlotte program.
Mr. John Robinson is the Managing Editor for the Living Church of God. In a recent forum message to the Living Education-Charlotte students, Mr. Robinson shared some of his experiences working in the print media industry, as well as some aspects of the Managing Editor’s job.
Experiences Are For a Reason
Mr. Robinson has a long background in print and publishing. He related to the students that many of the experiences, skills, and knowledge he gained as part of this career were not always directly applicable to his then-job. As time went on, he wondered why he would have certain experiences in life. It was 12 years ago that the job offer was posted for the Managing Editor for the Church—and the description matched him perfectly.
Since then, it became clear to Mr. Robinson that the experiences he was given earlier in life were meant to suit him in the role God gave him later. This was an important lesson Mr. Robinson stressed to the students—while you may not always understand why you’re experiencing something, God is working out all things for good (Romans 8:28). The experiences and skills you gain now may come into play later on in ways you never imagined.
Principles of Design
One major aspect of Mr. Robinson’s job involves design. In his words, design is organizing information. This goes further than organizing visual elements in an aesthetic way, but also includes assessing the purpose of the design, accounting for every detail that goes into the creative process, and eliminating mental clutter.
One challenge designers face is the fact that the human brain is always looking for a reason to stop reading. As a result, the layout process for the Church’s print media must be completed with care and deliberate intent. Mr. Robinson spoke in detail about the intentionality behind the design elements the Church uses. Everything—the fonts used, the sizes, the colors, even the amount of words in a line—serves a purpose, and is designed to make the reading experience as easy on the reader as possible, while also retaining the core intent of the original author’s vision. Mr. Robinson is a large part of this process, overseeing the layout, versioning, and editing of print media, from the Tomorrow’s World/Living Church News magazines to the booklets.
Design in Your Life
Mr. Robinson’s previous career in print and publishing led him to be a qualified and valuable asset to the editorial process in the Church. Just as the experiences that helped him reach that point did not always make sense, sometimes the things we experience in our day-to-day lives do not always make sense until later. The lessons we learn, skills we gain, and experiences we have may become relevant later on, and we must always have faith in God that He will be able to use those experiences for His benefit, in His timing—and it may mean you end up somewhere you never expected. Mr. Robinson stressed to the students that God is actively involved in all our lives, and is tailoring a life experience unique to all of us.
David Markopoulos is a Living Education alumnus from the 2023-2025 school years. Originally hailing from Chicago, he currently works for the Living Education program.
