Our History
By Design Visuals is the story of God’s work in the life of Jon Melin.
Jon Melin
Jon was born into a Bible-saturated pastor’s home as the third of six children. From an early age, God gave him a unique ability to visualize Bible stories. He grew up with traditional paper flannelgraph and the now out-of-print Moody Bible Story Book. After years of serving as a pastor and Bible teacher, Jon became the Director of Training for a ministry that relied heavily on flannelgraph. It was during this time that he created his first flannelgraph set. However, the visuals were limited—they used computer-altered photography and focused solely on the life of Jesus.
As a student of the Old Testament, Jon understood that the gospel story begins in Genesis. His experience conducting teacher training in more than 13 countries reinforced the value of flannelgraph—but also revealed its limitations. The visuals were outdated, lacked cross-cultural appeal, and were not prepared for mobile ministry or oral learners (those who struggle with reading).
It became clear: flannelgraph needed to change!
God was preparing Jon for his life’s work.
Ron Ferris
God gave Jon the vision for By Design Visuals on July 20, 2004, while teaching in Estonia. Jon asked God to confirm the vision by leading him to the artist of His choosing by prayer alone. Jon met Ron Ferris the following month. Although born deaf, God blessed Ron with an exceptional artistic mind and skill. Ron has created every scenic background, overlay and biblical figure in the By Design Visuals Series.
God gifted Ron to draw what Jon sees.
Prayer, Orality and a Mentor
2009 was a pivotal year for Jon Melin and the direction of By Design Visuals. While attending the International Orality Network (ION) Conference, Jon encountered the ION Prayer Team—a divine appointment that deeply impacted his life and ministry. To this day, the team continues to faithfully cover him and By Design Visuals in prayer.
At the same event, Jon met Dorothy Miller, scriptwriter and founder of The God’s Story Project. This 80-minute audiovisual Bible overview, God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity, is now available in over 400 languages of the world. Dorothy became more than a mentor—she became Jon’s close friend and ministry partner.
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An Expanded Vision: Scripts, Backgrounds and Recordings
“Why don’t you write the stories?” Dorothy asked. With those words, God expanded Jon’s vision—leading him to begin writing the biblical scripts and background material for each illustrated story.
Together, Jon and Dorothy co-wrote the first 11 stories in the Genesis Series. However, as God’s Story grew and Dorothy launched Simply the Story (STS), an oral, discussion-based inductive Bible study method, her focus shifted fully to that work—until God eventually called her home.
Even so, Dorothy continued to influence Jon’s journey. The oral inductive Bible study method she taught, Simply the Story (STS) remains the backbone of By Design Visuals flannelgraph training. Later Dorothy became Jon’s storytelling coach as well. Because of her investment, Jon wrote and recorded the rest of the Genesis stories and continues as the writer and English voice for all the By Design Visuals stories today.
And Jon continues to work toward his and Dorothy’s original vision. “Produce the flannelgraph, story scripts and recordings for 230 Bible stories and have them translated and recorded in all the languages of God’s Story.”
The Right Combination, the Gospel Backpack
“I love the Genesis Series”, the man said. “But the heart and soul of ministry in India is evangelism and church planting.”
I responded, “Would you be interested in a flannelgraph set with 7 to 10 gospel-centered stories, all using just one background? We could package everything a ministry worker needs into a single ‘ministry backpack.’”
“Yes, we would!,” he replied.
That simple conversation gave birth to the original Sowers Set. Over time, we added the Christmas Set and the Easter Set. Today, the Gospel Backpack includes everything parents, grandparents, homeschoolers, church planters, children’s ministry leaders, and short-term mission teams need to share the gospel—anywhere in the world.
A Singular Focus: Equipping Oral Learners in a Story-Driven World
At By Design Visuals, our resources are intentionally created to serve both literate and oral learners—but our primary focus is the 75–80% of people globally who learn best through stories. These oral-preference learners thrive with tools they can see, hear and experience “hands-on.”
To meet this need, our Video Stories combine training and storytelling through flannelgraph visuals—making it easy to simply watch, learn, and immediately retell the stories using our flannelgraph.
Our Prep Cards and Story Scripts use intuitive images and simple visuals that are not reading dependent, making them ideal for use in oral cultures, mobile ministry, and outreach to non-readers around the world.
