Branding

My wife noticed it right away.  There it sat.  Right near the front door of a church we visited.  A bright yellow brochure with the big heading “Just Try It” positioned above…the trademarked Nike logo.  Like a scene from a church-communications action film where a bomb was armed to blow, we looked at each other wide-eyed, mouths open as we shook our heads in slow motion—all the while silently yelling, “Noooooo!”

Okay, it wasn’t that dramatic.  Our reaction was probably more of just subdued...

At the beginning of every flight, the crew takes a few minutes to give safety instructions. For most of us, it’s a throw away moment. We’ve flown enough that we already know how to buckle those tricky airplane safety belts and understand that our seat will float if the plane goes crashing into the sea.  So we simply tune out, or enjoy those last few precious moments with our electronic devices.

That changed for me on a recent American Airlines flight.  They’ve produced a new safety...

Sometimes when it comes to design, we make decisions based on wanting something to look cool.  In fact many times we may judge design solely on it looking good without taking into effect how it communicates something or how it can better help our organizations connect with people.

Fast Co. Design had an interesting article recently that looked at what good design can do for a business.  As I read through the list, I couldn’t help but think there are some good principles for churches to...

Thanks to everyone who came to our workshop about being a welcoming church at the Edmonton Day of Encouragement.  I appreciate your interaction and great questions.  A few of you asked for a copy of the presentation, so here it is.

The Netflix train wreck is now a full-on spectacle.  Over the past few months, there’s been a flow of bad news and bizarre announcements that has taken Netflix from a customer favorite to one that’s losing people, and reputation, quickly.

In July, the movie-mailing and streaming giant said it was raising rates by 60 percent while providing no new services.  While a lot of that increases was due to greedy media studios, Netflix took the brunt of the blame.  Following the announcement,...

Certain events can become a catalyst for change for churches.  At Life Baptist Church in Las Vegas, it was a move to a new building.  It was a chance for the church of nearly 300 people to start with a clean branding slate to better present their message.  It was time to clean up the inconsistent messaging and branding they had in the past.

“I can't overhype the importance of branding. Don't be afraid of it,” says Creative Arts Guy Matt Phillips “The truth is that you are already sending a...

I’ve spent every Sunday this summer away from my home church.  In a departure from Chicago suburban life, I found myself on the shores of Lake Michigan.  My wife and I spend our summer weekends at a small Christian community in southwest Michigan.  More than 150 years ago, it was founded as a retreat for people to spiritually refresh during the summer.  It’s still that way today.  It’s a place where the streets double as sidewalks, the beach is packed on warm afternoons, kids can run safe and...

Our sister ministry, Under the Radar, recently ordered some Chick-fil-A catering for a concert here in our office.  Oddly, we found ourselves in the middle of a rare Chick-fil-A flub.  Something didn’t feel right when the chicken-serving, service-oriented restaurant was more than a half hour late delivering the food.  We found ourselves in a bizarre, unfamiliar place of shaking our fists and cursing Chick-fil-A for denying us fried chicken goodness.

When the food mercifully arrived, we...

Graphic designer Paul Nielsen wrote a really interesting piece about church graphic design.  Nielsen says churches often find themselves in one of two camps.  They either aren’t thinking about design at all or they’re way overthinking it.

I always say everything a church does communicates something, so why not intentionally think about it.  And that’s really the philosophy Nielsen follows when looking at churches who don’t put much thought into their signs, brochures, worship folders, etc. ...

It was March 1, 2010, when Caribou Coffee, the second largest coffee chain in the U.S., introduced their new logo.  Yet more than a year later, all of the Caribou’s around me still have the old logo on their main signs.  The cups, printed materials and door signage have all changed, but the biggest display of each store is still stuck with the old logo.  Sure, the logo didn’t undergo a huge change; basically they just smoothed out the old logo to make a new one.  But, still, it seems like by...