Telling the stories of what God has done in people is very important. Check out how Granger Community Church did it on cardboard.
Cardboard Testimonies from Granger Community on Vimeo.
Archive
I’ve tried several ways of rounding corners in Photoshop and sometimes it just seems like it doesn’t look quite right…until now. The Graphic Designer I work with found this link with great instructions to help make this task an easy one
http://matthom.com/archive/2004/09/10/fast-rounded-corners-in-photoshop
—
How do you present the look and feel of a sermon, ministry or event brand? Do you find a carefully crafted brand being stretched or shredded by an over-zealous team member? Here are two excellent examples of style guides, almost “mood boards,” created by a church in Cincinnati. Would something like this help you communicate or defend your branding decisions?
(Backstory: One of my clients, a church in northern Kentucky, has twice partnered with Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, to do the same teaching sereis. I get access to all the graphics created for this “shared” series. I take the predetermined brand and apply it to all of my client’s collateral.)
I read this article and was reminded of how we are to be in the world, but not of it while being salt and light. Salt must come into contact with something else other than salt before it can season or preserve. Light shining in a lit room does little. Light shining in darkness brings hope, directs and changes the situation.
Read about how Rice Temple Baptist Church and how they built a relationship with a Hooters restaurant and loved the workers as Christ loved.
—–
Advertising on Facebook is convenient, easy to setup and can be pretty effective! We can select a specific audience by age, location, interests, etc. and then bid on how much we are willing to pay per click that we get. A nice thing is that we can limit our expenses per day so we don’t go over budget.
For our leadership conference we wanted to get the news out to the online crowd. Using Facebooks advertising we made one (see at right). We’ve currently draw about 13% of those who come to our leadership site through this ad.
To track traffic to our websites we make use of Google’s Analytics and run reports for leadership through the free tools Google provides. Pretty handy.
Thoughts by Michael Shead
I came across this blog while looking for other ideas today. In it Vandelay Designs comments on the improvments that churches have made on the web.
Vandelay writes… “As far as web design is concerned, churches have come a long way in recent years. It wasn’t too many years ago that most church websites were several years behind the times. Apparently a growing number of churches today are recognizing the importance of their web presence.”
Check out the list of 50 church sites they liked here.
They’ve also got other great resources and ideas on their site.
We had a good meeting today with the roundtable hanging out at Panera Bread and sharing ideas.
Here’s a list of some stock image resources that you might find helpful that were brought up in the meeting:
www.sxc.hu (good variety & free. Read the paperwork though.)
www.morguefile.com — (best for backgrounds, outdated people)
wwww.everystockphoto.com (searches flickr but watch out for images that aren’t free)
Re-discovered by Michael Shead
At the October Roundtable, we talked about ways that we stay creative. It was a good conversation. Here’s some of the list we generated. Why don’t you add your favorite source of inspiration or creative exercise in the comments below!
- going to the movies
- an evening at Barnes & Noble
- travel (close to home or far away)
- nature and the change of seasons
- Mag: HOW
- Mag: Dynamic Graphics
- Mag: Communication Arts
- Mag: Graphic Design USA (free from this site)
- Mag: Men’s Health (for insights into designing for Men)
- Mag: Real Simple (just for the design)
- Window shopping for the latest colors and textures in fashion (and window displays)
- Book: How to Think Like Leonardo daVinci (and the workbook)
Then, we did a doodling exercise. Some of us were doodlers and others weren’t. It’s pretty easy to get started (pen and paper), but if you’d like some help, download the doodle worksheets at www.illustrationclass.com. (Thanks, Von!)
What keeps you creative? Leave a comment.
I was meeting with one of the pastors today and he asked me if I’ve thought about changing up the bulletin. We’ve been using our latest design and size for about a year now. Previously we were purchasing shells from Outreach, then printing and folding in-house. However, with some new equipment, we’ve switched to 12-page 8.5″x5.5″ booklets with a color front and back. Using our Lanier printers and bookmaker the cost for the 2,500 bulletins we make ends up being about $0.15 each. Here’s a PDF version for you to check it out.
So what are you doing? I’m curious about what other churches are doing for bulletins. I’ve seen a church that had a “Bullet” that was about 3.5″x8.5″ and had basic points of what’s happening and then referred people to more info elsewhere (a info booth or Web site).
I consider the weekly bulletin as one of the prime ways we communicate with people although we’re trying to drive more people to the Web site. It just seems that it’s an inexpensive way to get info into their hands and people know where to find bulletins…plus, they usually read or at least peruse them while they’re waiting for service to start or when they take them home.
So, any ideas?
Thoughts by Michael Shead
I just got an updated pricelist from Holland Litho. We’re looking at some new folded double business cards.