Your Church Brand in Action

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Last time we talked about what a church brand is. Doesn't matter if you are aware of it or not, or even if you believe in it or not. You have a brand. You are who you demonstrate yourself to be, and what other people experience. So, you are better off being wise in how you act toward outsiders and take it seriously. (Colossians 4:5-6)

The way to take your brand seriously is to act on it regularly. In other words, develop some church-wide habits that are intentional.

Six Designer Mistakes You Can Avoid

I was in my sophomore or junior year in college when someone came to campus to get a design student to design a poster for them. I thought it would be great to get some real world work in my portfolio, so I jumped at the opportunity. They wanted to promote an aspect of the Kwanza celebration of Umoja — which is Swahili for unity.

They discussed with me how they wanted it laid out and the colors, and I was ready to design it. I enthusiastically started by buying materials and putting it together by hand. I built it using cut Pantone papers, sticker lettering, and some paint. Then I gave them the final hand-crafted poster design. They loved it. 

The One Skill Every Designer Needs to be a Better Communicator

There are different soft skills today that designers can use to be better designers. Skills such as storytelling, empathy, and listening are just a few of the skills that make designers more valuable.

But there's one skill that underlines all the others.

Boundaries for Graphic Designers

I generally have good boundaries as a graphic designer, but not all the time. I don’t always clearly express what I want, what I want my process to be, or how I want my time respected. I’m a bit of an introvert in this area. That doesn’t mean I am afraid to be assertive. It means that I tend to be less clear in my communication when I’m not consciously putting in the effort to be clear.

What’s a Well Designed Church Website?

I’ve been looking at different church websites recently. Most of what I’ve seen troubles me a bit. As a designer, I feel churches are missing an important opportunity when they don’t care enough about their website to do it well. In fact, 80% of new visitors check out the website before entering a church building. That's a lot of people to ignore. But, with good planning and thinking, this problem can be overcome.

7 Habits of Clients That Designer's Love

Designers are naturally wary of bad clients. Bad clients take a lot of mental, emotional, and physical energy to manage. So, we designers prefer to avoid them. And as a result, we pay careful attention to any signs that a potential client may be harmful to work with.

Why the Design Problem is More Important Than the Solution

Imagine a math teacher giving a 5-minute pop quiz. She starts writing some numbers on the chalkboard, and asks her students to solve this one equation. Everyone goes to work, except for one student. He timidly stands up and admits,

3 Simple Steps for Dealing with Criticism

Last time, we looked at reasons why criticism can be difficult for designers. But criticism can also be valuable. It’s an opportunity to grow. We need feedback to shape our growth. And honestly, we aren’t perfect and we need prodding sometimes.

So, here are 3 simple steps to start receiving and benefiting from criticism:

5 Reasons Criticism Can Be Difficult for Designers

As designers, we get our fair share of criticism. It's a central part of what we do. We are always presenting our work for critique. We make edits, and we make adjustments that fit the client's needs (and sometimes wants). That's what we do.

But sometimes receiving criticism is just difficult. Here are five reasons why:

Four Things Design Can Teach Us About Life

After I finish a project, I sometimes reflect on how much the design is like life. The drama, the anticipation, the expectations, the limitations, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. Even though projects don’t always have these elements, the design process involves life-like decisions and perspectives.

Here are a few ways design is like life:

Good design requires white space.

There’s a lot to be said about leaving white space in your layouts. A well-designed document or website needs room to breath, so comprehension is easier and comfortable. Some non-designers think that using white space to share more information is effective. However, according to research by Wichita State University, comprehension is lower with less white space than with more. White space helps with comprehension.

Life is no different. When I jam my life full of activity, it starts to lose meaning and comprehension. However, when I simplify my life with margins of time, I find that I can think and plan much better. And my life is more purposeful. Creating margins of time provides me with adequate rest and the room to be more creative.

Good design requires empathy.

Design is not about decorating a client’s message. It’s about connecting with an audience emotionally. Good design helps them to identify with and act on the client’s message, not just admire the looks. Therefore, the designer must empathize with the audience to do this well.

In life, I realize that just saying something isn’t the same as effective communication. I often have to spend time observing and listening before speaking, so that I understand the perspective of the other person when I communicate. In this way I will be able to help them identify with my perspective. Listen first before speaking.

Good design requires supporting content.

Designers take their craft very seriously. But design can only do so much. It can’t make a bad message good. On the other hand, with good content, design can make the content more persuasive. Designers love it when clients have a professional writer produce content. It makes our jobs easier and more productive.

In my daily life I often need similar support. I can’t do everything. There are times when I lack the time, the ability, or the patience to do certain tasks. And just because I know how to do something, that doesn’t mean I should. Although I don’t always do this, I need to let other people help me. I need to be honest and humble enough to ask for help when I need it.

Good design requires intentionality.

Whenever a designer starts a project, she follows a process. And every step in the process has an intended objective. These objectives add up to an effective design.

When I go about life in a haphazard way, I really don’t achieve desired goals. But when I live with intentionality I have better results. So, I need time to consider what I want for my family, career, health, friendships, spiritual life, and so on. (And I can do this, if I have proper white space in my life.) With this knowledge I start to live life with a clearer purpose. Decisions become a whole lot easier too. I can say yes to the right things.

Design has other facets that remind me of life like the importance of beauty, how every element contributes to the whole, romance, and simplicity. But, I could go on for days.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you as a reader. If so, perhaps I’ll pursue this some more. Let me know.

5 Tips For Handling Clients Who Don't Know What They Want (Until They See it)

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."
—Lewis Carroll

It takes little effort, thought, or time to request an expert to fix your problem. However, it takes effort, thought, and time to really understand what the problem is. And when the problem isn't clear, the possibilities for solutions are endless and directionless.

When Should Designers Go Off-Brand

There are times when I'm asked to design something "exciting". And that often means using colors not in the company brand palette, design layouts that don't necessarily reflect the brand's tone, and use fonts not identified as part of a company's brand.

Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Graphic Designer

When I think about my early years as a designer, I sometimes cringe. For instance, I remember when I was in school and I was asked to design a poster. The poster was a big hit all over campus. When I asked for payment, the client thought I should just be happy I got to do the job.

How to Think on Your Feet as a Designer

"Who am I? Why am I here?"

Funny. But not the type of response I want to give in the immediate moment.

Frankly, I don't like giving impromptu responses publicly. I prefer to have time to prepare something to say, rather than be put on the spot. But, as an in-house designer and as a freelancer, I often find myself having to give introductions, share my opinions, or give justifications for my design choices when asked. I used to hate this. Even now, I still don't like being

The Two Questions Every Designer Must Ask to Get a Better Creative Brief

Most designers know how to get around this problem.

A client contacts you and wants you to produce something for them. Maybe they fill out your questionnaire or you discuss with them what they need and why they need it. But the client states an all-familiar refrain: "This is for everyone. And I want to (sell, gain, influence, etc.) as much as possible to everybody."

This response is obviously unhelpful. The audience is too broad, the strategy is unfocused, and the message doesn’t appeal to anybody. Designers generally know they need more specifics to design a more effective strategic design. But the series of questions you have to ask can put some clients off.

How to Create a Compelling Presentation Instead of Making Slides

Most people think of presentation software as a way to create a series of "slides" to help outline a talk. However, instead of thinking about presentations as giving information through talking and "slides", think about presentations as storytelling. Stories have drama, characters, conflict, and resolution. Stories can present an idea or make a point in a compelling manner. Stories grab attention.

How You Start: 5 Strategies Designers Can Use to Get Great Content

Have you ever been given a design project that just isn’t working? It’s not hitting the mark no matter how many reviews and edits it goes through. And its these types of projects that go through many painful reviews. Almost like walking back and forth over a bed of thorns. Sometimes it just hurts.

4 Reasons Why Writing Helps Me be a Better Designer

I’ve been in the habit of writing for quite some time. Last year I wrote articles in this space consistently once every week. My writing process included brainstorming, drafting, and editing. But this year, I’m not regular at all. What happened? Life got real tough.

Five Client Games Designers Don't Want to Play

Most clients are decent. It's true that some clients are not great. And some can be bad. But, that doesn't mean they are unscrupulous. However, there are a few that come to you with ulterior motives, which can hurt designers. And those clients aren't always aware of the harm they cause.

How to Design Under Pressure

If you observe job listings for graphic designers you will invariably see something like this in the qualifications: "Must be able to design under tight deadlines." Or my favorite, "Must be able to work under shifting and competing priorities." Sounds a lot like design-mill stuff, in my opinion. But there are legitimately decent design job listings that throw these lines in there too to weed out the timid.