How important is design for youth groups?

Should you have a brand for your youth group? 
How important is a logo to the identity of a group?
How does it contribute or influence the sense of community that you want to build or create? 

I’ve previously worked on some print material for Soulies Youth Community, at St Faiths Narrabeen on the northern beaches. They wanted some awesome flyers for the launch of a new camp, which involved a shift in thinking for their culture and promotions.

I designed a postcard with some kickin retro pics (complements of my own retro grandfather), rocking some all-caps, sans serif type.

Then we went on to design a logo and build out the branding for Soulies. They’re rocking the new logo on stickers, t-shirts and some plans for video intro/outro idents  in the works. It had to be quick, adaptable and distinctive. Their youth paster wanted something a bit fresh but fairly ‘timeless’, because he didn’t have the time to keep up with the latest in typefaces.

Dave Miers did the design for this one, taking the cues from the original and making good use of the logo and typefaces handed over.

In my experience, this is actually a big problem for churches that invest in design which is more about trends than communication. There seem to be a lot of website designs around that have beautiful javascript-driven slideshows for the latest events and sermon series graphics – which are almost disappointingly filled with  mis-sized images and low quality design work.

No one seems to have planned for the future of design in the church. How can we do better at handing over design resources to people in ways they can manage? Are we over designing and leaving noticeable gaps where there didn’t need to be designed work in the first place?

things I’ve put off: my church’s website

I’ll be honest. I’ve been wondering lately if it might be true that:

“Those who can’t do… research?”

I’ve heard this before, mostly to denigrate tutors who were disliked at university, to cast doubt on their alleged ‘industry experience’ and to claim that of course, if they ended up back here, they must not be much good at all!

I can’t deny, however, that researching how churches should use design has helped me put off actually designing for my church. It could be because there’s no particular financial motivation. Or because it’s a large project. Or because it doesn’t stare me in the face like other items on my to-do list.

But then there comes that awkward moment when you’re asked – “So… what’s happening with the church website?” And I have to admit it hasn’t been my highest priority.

Just churn it out! You might suggest. But I don’t want to – I want to consider it, and design carefully and consider our community. Without finance, though, comes the temptation to do the easiest and most acceptable – rather than the thoughtful and most creative.

Having commented a lot on the resources available, I’m going to attempt a roadtest of sorts. I intend to work through, and hopefully blog through, the handy Church Websites 101 series over at the Church Marketing Sucks blog. This should provide a framework for limiting this (I have other work to do for uni as well…) and help me to know how good the walkthrough actually is and who it should be recommended to. Can my minister read it and use it? Or is it really ‘designer only’ territory?

Time to find out! Hopefully it’s a constructive enterprise. Stay tuned, folks.

how far will this go?

I still need to upload the finished project, but being happy with the design equated to a good mark as well, so double the satisfaction.

next task up: pitching a direction for our major project for next semester (honours-type project). What will I be doing for almost all of the next 22 weeks? Is there enough in this ‘church and design’ project to sustain a major project? to be employable at the end of the year?

more reflection to come.
more reflection on reflection to come.
(our assessment next wednesday includes reflecting on the process of the subject to date. and i will reflect on that reflection afterwards).

this has been incoherent. my apologies.

working on a design response

so, the very ambitious brief I set myself was not only to condense and write out a comprehensive (if draft…) guide to church and design, but also to design it (obviously).

The frustrating part is writing and designing simultaneously. I’m quite proud that I only have one page of placeholder text in there. The rest is actual, written and thoughtful content.

This part hopefully comes to a close tomorrow, when I print and present the booklet I’ve been working on. In the meantime, here are 2 spreads from the first section. I’ll try and upload the rest later in the week, once assessment is complete.

(There’s also lots of stained glass in it, mainly because I love it. My church similarly features heavily in the photographic parts.)

scope and potential for further work

currently I’m working on the ‘design’ part of the project, after conveniently forgetting that uni work was necessary over our mid semester break.

the design outcome I’ve set for this part of the project:

“an educative and informative resource to educate churches about how and why visual communication should and can be used in the church, and to thereby persuade them to use it”

for this next week and 2 days, its focus is the Presbyterian church, for sake of scale, and scope.

but the question i face now, is: is there enough in this for major project? could I work on it for a whole nother semester? is this what i want to present as my final major work for 4 (or 5…) years of study? is this what i want to do for a job as an outcome of this course?

thankfully, the assessment that asks me that question isn’t for another 4 and a half weeks. at the moment, the most pressing thing is self assessing the brief i developed, and extruding a design outcome from my research.

sunday school resources don’t have to be daggy

A friend of mine (in the same faculty, not necessarily a viscomm student) showed me some resources she was making for sunday school classes, for year 6 kids at her church. I think they challenge the idea that we must use kitsch design or clipart images.

Don’t you think year 6 kids might be more interested and prouder of this than something with clipart on it?

church designing in action

As this research springs from my experience and practice in designing things for church, so inevitably (and, as proposed) the research span must include actual projects.

There are a few current projects I’m working on, dividing my attention and yet at the same time making it all the more important to come to good and useful conclusions from my research.

Upcoming series with a website for a church that is not quite my own, but I’m helping out a friend. More to come. We’re still in the process of designing and making… for a launch date of this weekend (yes, 3 days from now).

And also just finished, in the typical experience of designing for church, with 24 hours notice and 48 hour print deadline without guidelines, but of critical importance. If I was mean, I’d show you the artwork supplied to me. But I’m not, so here’s the finished product for print:

Promotional flyer for a family fun day at Woodford Church, to be handed out to primary school students in Scripture assemblies next week.

And a trivia night with a similar aim and focus, but for a wider audience (no jumping castles here, which I still think some adults enjoy…). Points for how many typefaces in both flyers, and naming them too…

Which of course you should come to! But ‘making things look pretty’ is frustrating when you want to be able to do more.  If I had more time, I would have less stress. If wishes were fishes, the sea would be full. (Ref.)