Common Worship, the book used by more than a million Church of England congregants a week, brings together “the best of both ancient and modern, classic and contemporary” orders of service. With its call in 2000 for proposals to give the book a refresh, the General Synod found a like mind in the designer and typographer John Morgan who, with Derek Birdsall, dispensed with the traditional prayer book aesthetic of a dense full page to give plenty of space around the orders of service, the design minimal but on an ivory paper stock, imbuing warmth.
Morgan, who has died aged 52 from a brain tumour, would continue working with the church for more than a decade, developing the original design into different formats and for varying ecclesiastical occasions.
