Where is the line between taking inspiration and being a copycat? There’s a legal answer, but that’s not always helpful when it comes to doing something original. I’ll briefly mention trademark infringements with a recent example from the corporate world, but then I’ll come back to the simple, common sense principle I follow to avoid unintended likenesses. The Legal Threshold According to US copyright law, changing 25% of an original work is enough to avoid infringement… most of the time. There are cases like this Bucc-ees lawsuit where some changes and tweaks aren’t enough. But if I had to guess, you’re probably not interested in toeing the line and copying as much as possible from other organizations without getting in trouble. You probably want to know, “How do I extract the best ideas from someone else’s branding, without letting it influence ours too much?” The Common Sense Answer Take inspiration from more than one place. It sounds simple, but this is really all there is to it. This is the approach I use when designing anything: Gather inspiration from at least five different sources. List the features of each that stand out as relevant to the project Start creating and see how those features interact Take inspiration from more than one source, and you’ll never have to worry about copying someone else.

Advertisers are always looking for a way to get you to buy a product. To do that, sometimes they’ll parody or copy each other to make their message more memorable. It’s amazing how well this strategy works, but does it have a place in church branding? No. Copying another church’s messaging, branding, or marketing might look nice. It might even get more traction at first. In the long run, this approach is deadly. The first reason is that you could open yourself up to legal action. Many churches trademark their branding, which means you can easily break the law if you’re directly copying their image. Even if you don’t get sued, there’s a second and even worse outcome. Many people already think of churches (especially in heavily churched areas) like desperate credit card companies: always offering new incentives for people to switch churches. I’ve heard it called “sheep stealing,” “member trading,” and “transfer growth.” While it’s not always the intention of the leaders at one church to steal sheep, it would be wrong to encourage “church hopping” for such superficial reasons as slick branding. The solution Build your church brand around your unique story and vision. It’s that simple. But wait, is it ever okay to copy? Where is the line between taking inspiration and being a copycat? That’s what I’ll cover tomorrow.

This topic is one that goes wide and deep, so I’m going to try and give a 30,000ft snapshot. A church’s identity is made up of the themes and threads from its unique past, present, and future - things which make that church distinct from the church down the road. Visual identity is the symbolic representation of that, which is why it goes so much deeper than a logo or carpet color. Turning a church identity into something visual is a tricky process, but not impossible. Here’s my thesis: Starting with your intangible identity is the only way to create a meaningful, long-lasting, and copycat-proof brand. Let’s say you hire a graphic designer to create a beautiful visual identity that’s based on your preferences and current design trends. What happens in two years when those preferences and trends have changed? By going deep on your church’s intangible identity, you can emerge from the woods with a look that actually captures the uniqueness of your church and lasts for decades. Your visual identity won’t be able to be copied or replicated, because it’s grounded in the stuff that makes your local church, "local". Otherwise, you’re probably just copying someone else.

I see too many churches missing chances for continued visitor engagement. Does this sound familiar? “Thanks for attending, follow us on Facebook for announcements!” Giving people a link to your social media page isn’t bad, but there is a much better way to encourage visitors to continue engaging with your church. Most people are coming to church with the intention of getting something deeper than what they can get online. So give them that! Instead of asking something of them, offer them something that they would be crazy to say no to. Here are the three easy and effective ways to do that: 1. Next Steps After What They Just Got This is an easy one. Offer visitors the next thing that follows from how they just engaged. Why? If they came for a worship conference or at a summer camp, the next steps are going to be activities like discipleship, Bible studies, and community. If they experienced the power of the gospel and God’s people at the event, they’re going to naturally want this. And, if you’re like most churches, these are all programs that your church already offers! 2. More of the Same Thing Offer visitors more of the same thing they just experienced. This is helpful in circumstances where the engagement is something your church participates in on a regular basis. If you have a weekly cadence of a Wednesday night Bible study for Sunday morning worship, and a visitor attends for that particular event, offer them an easy way to continue to come. This offer should somehow make attending next week even easier. 3. Something Similar But Better This one is pretty self explanatory. If a visitor is attending a Wednesday night community bible study, offer them a small group of people in your church where they’ll go deeper and get to study over a longer period of time with people they know. If someone visits a Sunday morning worship service, offer them Wednesday night worship or a prayer meeting. Following these three strategies will help you guide visitors along the journey of engaging and identifying with your church, so that they can ultimately join.

Does your church ever put on conferences, take the youth to summer camp, or organize community gatherings? Churches who do this at a high level use communication strategies to make these events well-attended, memorable, and impactful. One of those strategies is to give the event its own visuals, but when is this the right call? I could give you a decision-making tree and a process to decide, but I figured a list of pros and cons would do just fine. This way you can go through the list and decide for yourself if each item applies to your situation. With that, here are the pros and cons of creating unique branding for your church event: Pros: Gives the event a distinct identity – Makes it feel special rather than just another church activity. Can boost engagement and attendance – A fresh look can generate curiosity and excitement. Helps with marketing and promotions – Unique branding makes it easier to design flyers, social media posts, and announcements that grab attention. Allows creative storytelling – You can tailor the visuals to match the event’s theme, making it more immersive and impactful. Can attract new people – A well-branded event may appeal to those outside your congregation who wouldn’t normally attend. Cons: Takes extra time and effort – Creating custom visuals means more planning and design work. Can dilute your main church brand – If done too often, people might associate more with the event than with the church itself. Inconsistent quality risks – If branding isn’t done well, it could look unprofessional or weaken the event’s perceived value. Might not always be necessary – Some events function just fine under the church’s existing branding, and adding unique visuals could be overkill. Pro tip Using your main church logo in a subtle, tasteful way on event graphics associates the event with your church. Making a connection to your parent brand is a way to remind attendees of the mission driving you to put the event on in the first place.

Last weekend, I went hiking in the Ouachita National Forest with a friend from church. It was my first time on that particular trail, but thankfully he had hiked this trail multiple times and knew it like the back of his hand, or so I thought. I started to get nervous when he stopped in his tracks and said, “I’ve never seen this bridge before.” He crossed the bridge and ventured on a little further. “I don’t remember passing through this open area.” We figured we had missed a fork in the trail, so we crossed back over the bridge and backtracked for a mile or two. No sign of a turnoff or any other indicators of another trail. We were forced to go back to the bridge again. At this point, we had hiked nearly 3.5 miles of detour, with nothing to show for it. What would have helped us avoid that unexpected pain? A guide who had brought others along that trail dozens of times. A map of the entire trail, with a “You Are Here” indicator. The reason I’m sharing this story is: My friend thought he remembered the trail, but there were critical things he had missed the first few times. Whether you’re hiking a secluded trail or rebranding, it’s smart to get expert insights and a proven roadmap before you waste time on detours and roadblocks. Thankfully, after exploring a bit more, we realized we were on the right path after all. We ended up having a great trip.

Brands are like bodies. Everybody has one, but it takes discipline and consistency to build a healthy one. I recently saw a 15 second video that highlighted how simple something like getting in shape can really be. The three steps he lays out are: Eat 2 meals a day with 100g of protein in each. Don’t eat other stuff. Lift 3 times per week and add weight or reps over time. Put in those terms, getting in shape is simple - just eat right and exercise. Creating and cultivating a brand identity is a lot like that. It’s simple in theory, but it takes consistency and effort.

Recently I’ve been watching a sci-fi TV show called “Severance.” The show follows “severed” office workers at a large corporation who have had surgery to divide their memories between their work and personal lives. Believe it or not, I think there’s a hidden gem in this idea that applies to church branding. Hear me out. Think about the average member of your church congregation. Does he ever consider his belonging to your collective body Monday through Saturday? Are your shared beliefs on the tip of his tongue during the week, outside the walls of your church building? If not, then you might have a church of “severed” members. This naturally occurs in modern life, but it’s something we can and should counteract. In the TV show, severed employees can unify their two identities through a process called “reintegration.” The good news is, there’s a way to “reintegrate” the identity your people have at church with their identity outside your walls. The way to do this is by cultivating a healthy brand. A church brand that is sticky and memorable can remind your average member of his belonging to a local church body, even as he goes about his rhythms of daily life. What are you doing to help your members avoid being “severed?”

Finding a designer to hire for a project comes with unexpected and paradoxical challenges. Unless you have a personal connection to a someone specific, you’re judging your options based on a stranger’s published work. Paradoxically, you’re forced to make aesthetic judgments of their style and fit before you actually hire them to help with your aesthetics. The best designer might not be the one whose style resonates with you the most. The counterintuitive truth is, the best designer might not be the one whose style resonates with you the most. Okay, so how can you evaluate a designer more effectively? Here are a few ways off the top of my head: Success stories on similar projects Clearly defined process Familiarity with your needs Pricing The thing is, if you’re trying to just make something you like, the subjective approach works just fine. If you’re trying to make something that will solve a problem or communicate an idea to more people, objectivity is critical.

Tending your brand is so much deeper and wider than using your logo. That’s because a brand is much, much more than a logo. Look at the image below and tell me, do you recognize the brand it belongs to? Of course you do! But wait, there’s no logo to be found… That’s because Chick Fil A doesn’t need to put their logo on everything for you to know it’s theirs. The emotions and feelings they’ve created are more than enough to identify them. This is done with interior design, photos, colors, textures, and font choices, which are a critical part of what we call “branding.” The logo is the “tip of the spear” in a brand. The logo is the “tip of the spear” in a brand, but the other branding elements, the “shaft of the spear” are what should be doing the heavy lifting. They’ve curated a style that gives people a sense of joy, trust, and cleanliness. Here’s the question: Did Chick Fil A stumble upon their style of branding by accident?

For most churches, their brand guidelines could fit on a single sheet of letter-sized paper (if they have brand guidelines at all). However, I’ve spent enough time in the design industry to know that large companies need brand guidelines which are much richer and more complex. So, I wasn’t surprised when a tech company called Zapier released their massive, 100-page book of brand guidelines to the public. Why so extensive? Isn't that overkill, even for a large tech company? The reason Zapier has such an extensive brand guide is because they have an extensive brand scope. Let me explain. Zapuer just has one main logo and their color palette is relatively simple. The complexity comes from all of the different places that branding is going to live. Let's say you have vacation homes in Hawaii, Alaska, and Texas, and you live in each for a few months out of the year. You'd probably have different clothes you wear, a different time of day for your walk, and different for guests. The number of places your brand will live determines how many guidelines you need. If you’re printing promotional pieces, posting on social media, and creating video content, your church would probably benefit from some basic brand guidelines. This makes sure each part of your brand gets distilled with instructions and visuals to be straightforward and easy to use (even for someone with very little design experience). Do you know someone who needs a set of guidelines for their existing logo and branding? Just in the month of April 2025, I’m offering a brand guidelines creation service for just $299 to any church who is happy with their look, but needs help making it more consistent. If that sounds like you or a pastor you know, send me an email and I’ll get your church into the queue.

Okay, so the title is a little hyperbolic. But picking colors really is one of the most mysterious and notional aspects of branding. That’s why today I want to help demystify this part of a church rebrand. Demonstrating intentionality is arguably the most important part of any church rebrand, and that applies not just to color but to every design choice. If you can show a proven, meaningful process was used, it can generate tremendous buy-in and overcome objections. In this post, I’ll overview that proven, meaningful process. We’ll look at where to find good colors and how to harmonize them, ultimately creating a pleasing, God-glorifying palette. A color palette built with this process is hard to argue with! Where to Find Good Colors The short answer is: in God’s created world! I recently was listening to this podcast episode about color, painting, and art (not as boring as it sounds). The guest, Forrest Dickinson, talked about how Scottish tweed makers will go out into the countryside, capture a swatch of colors from their environment, and use those colors in their designs. What’s stopping us from doing the same thing? Find or take a photo of your church building, its surroundings, or something in your environment that fits the aesthetic you’re going for. This is going to be your reference image. How to Harmonize Your Church Colors Color is light. And much like sound, it has different wavelengths that represent different parts of a spectrum. When those wavelengths align in certain patterns, they harmonize. A great place to start is by choosing what I like to call “Core Colors.” Your core colors are the duo, trio, or quartet that glue your whole brand together. Start by choosing a light and a dark. This could be white and black if you’re going for a very bold and edgy vibe. I like to choose an off-white or pastel from the highlights in my reference image and a dark color from the shadows. Then, choose one or two more saturated colors between your light and dark in terms of brightness. These should be more vibrant and pop a little more. Type out your church name in a Word Doc or in Canva. Make the background one color and the text another color from your core color palette. Try different combinations for the text and background. Is the text readable in most of them? If not, you may want to adjust the values until they have better contrast. If you follow these steps, you’re more likely than not to come up with a pleasing, Christ-honoring harmony of colors that will be functional in print and digital spaces! Try it for yourself.

Every church does some printing in house, but who do you pick for professional printing services? I’m a big proponent of using a local vendor, but not just for the typical “shop local” reasons. This will save your church time and money and give you better results. So, here are my top three reasons to choose a local vendor: 1. The Value of Physical Proofs In my years as a graphic designer and art director, the importance of getting a physical printed proof from a vendor has become more and more apparent to me. If you’re printing anything with brand colors or photography, you have a lot riding on color accuracy. Here are the cases I recommend asking for a printed proof (sometimes called a “match print”): Prominent interior displays Something you’re printing a lot of Semi-permanent banners or signs 2. Access to Experience If someone is running a successful print shop, you can bet they have technical knowledge of how to get their customers the best results. What type of paper to print your bulletin on, how to set up your artwork for a vinyl banner, or which bumper stickers are the easiest to apply? Most local print shops will be more than happy to answer your questions, if you just ask! 3. Cost Savings VistaPrint and other online print services may be easy to use, but they charge a premium price for that convenience. Between shipping costs and upcharges for every add-on, they’re often the more expensive option for churches looking to print materials on a budget. These are just three of the reasons I recommend churches use a local print shop whenever possible. If those weren’t enough, other reasons include investing in your community, getting consistent quality, maintaining a relationship with a local business, and having someone who can help if a print job goes wrong.

Balancing high standards with inclusivity in the life of a church can be challenging. For example, not everyone may have the skills to sing in the choir or play an instrument during worship. How can we maintain quality without relying solely on professionals? Here are three categories you can use to think about this topic: 1. The Talented Specialist God has put people with unique gifts and talents in every church. We should use them! If you have someone in your congregation who specializes in exactly what you need - they’re probably the best choice. 2. The Willing Volunteers Then there’s a grey area of things you COULD do in-house. At my church, we’re redoing some fencing around our AC condensers outside the building. We’ve gotten bids from professional contractors, but we also have guys with lots of construction and welding experience in our congregation. Those guys could probably get something decent put together in a couple weeks. It’s a decision between spending the extra money on a professionally built fence that will look more beautiful and last longer, VS doing it ourselves with a shorter expiration date (and probably less beautiful). 3. It’s Out of Your Wheelhouse Finally there’s the category of things that would be wasteful and fruitless to NOT hire a pro. A lot of churches don’t have the expertise to set up a sound system from scratch, file their taxes, or to renovate their sanctuary. When I work with churches on a rebrand, I do my best to make sure they can take the reigns when we’re done. Branding takes ongoing intentional effort, so I give clients a toolkit of graphics, colors, and fonts they can use right inside Canva (did you know churches can get Canva Pro for free?). Conclusion All that to say, I think there’s a level of excellence that each church has to decide if they want to pursue on a case by case basis. If you have someone in your congregation who does it all the time, the decision is pretty obvious. Conversely, it’s easy to hire a pro if nobody in your church would even know where to start. The 2nd category takes more wisdom to decide on the best course of action. Often these situations call for a hybrid approach, hiring a professional to get you started so that your volunteers can eventually take over.

Building, creating, and doing business is how many of us are called to glorify our Creator. By building businesses and influence in every sphere, we’re carrying out the dominion mandate and bringing more of creation under submission to Christ’s lordship and rule. This is true whether our work is in law, construction, medicine, or design. I love serving churches because it’s a chance for me to reflect God’s creativity and what he is already doing in each local church body to advance his kingdom. All this while pointing back to the timeless truth of the gospel. Sometimes that looks like symbolism in the logo itself, and other times it’s the overall feeling of reverence, optimism, or hospitality that you can bring out through other visual elements. My work has gained attention from secular designers from time to time, and I don’t think they quite understand what it is that I do. They don’t see how working with churches can be profitable. The truth is: it’s not the most lucrative market. I price projects at below what I believe the value is, but even then many churches aren’t willing to spend ministry dollars on branding. That’s okay with me because I’m able to pour myself even more into other projects that ARE a perfect fit. Because of this approach, I’ve gotten to have those conversations with my peers about why I continue to work with churches. I’m driven by more than just money. If this were all taken away tomorrow, I would still praise God for it. I feel invigorated and fulfilled by the work he has called me to in this season of life, but I know it is a gift and that the next thing he leads me into will result even more in my ultimate good and his ultimate glory.

Galvanize your congregation. Build trust and unity. Can branding do that? A healthy church brand actually provides a mental framework for your members to fit their knowledge and experiences into. If you’re like me, and most other humans, you need “hooks” to hang information on. Otherwise you forget it. As your congregation participates in the life of your church, they are becoming disciples of Christ. They are being taught God’s word and how to follow it. Through branding, you can give your people more hooks to hang that knowledge on. A Christ-centered brand can help them connect the dots between their shared identity and their shared purpose. In other words, you’re drawing that connection between who they are as a local church body and the ultimate reason your church exists. Let’s look at an example. One church I worked with recently was Heritage Church in Shawnee, OK. Heritage had identified five core values or purposes that they wanted their congregation to live out each week. Through this rebrand process, we turned those core values into icons, each with a color that represented part of their vision. Those core values icons integrated into their logo and helped them teach the distinctives that made Heritage unique as a local church. We also turned the icons into a pattern that they could use on everything, even down to bookmarks. The best part was, each of their core values is more memorable and “sticky”. Every design pointed back to the brand Heritage had created around their shared identity as a church body.

You’ve probably used and taught evangelism methods before. These tools make the Gospel easy to understand, remember, and share. Have you ever considered how your church brand works the same way? Evangelism tools introduce words, pictures, and frameworks to help people explain the Gospel message to someone. What are the words, pictures, and frameworks your members use to tell their friends, neighbors, and coworkers about your church? For most people, inviting someone to church is already nerve-racking enough. Part of that is your unique church identity - it’s hard to sum up on the spot! The solution is to give your congregation a framework with visuals to help them understand, remember, and share your church. Give them words to use. Give them memorable visuals. Use visuals that reflect who you are and who you want to be as a church body. These are all things branding effectively aims to do. We have a gift of eternal and unmeasurable value in the Gospel and in the fellowship we experience through the local church. Shouldn’t we be valuing that gift more highly and helping others do the same?

We recognize and agree that the Holy Spirit is the only one who can draw people near, sway their hearts, and renew their minds. We know that he uses means to do that. What are those means? They are anything from a meal, to a sermon, to podcasts, to graphic design, which ultimately communicate his Word. In light of that, we should ask how can we do those things in a way that will glorify God and be used by his Holy Spirit? It’s not an easy question to answer, but a powerful place to start is in your church brand. You already have the substance in your vision, mission, and values… the challenge is to create something of the highest quality to capture that substance, visually representing what God is doing in your local body. This is what I challenge myself with every time I sit down at the drawing board.

I recently heard a pastor make the statement, “the Gospel doesn’t need marketing and branding.” It’s a legitimate criticism. Are churches who spend time, money, and effort on their branding just trying to “market Jesus?” Here’s my response: Some are to be sure… but most are not. Christ-centered branding is about reflecting God’s character, creativity, and what he is already doing in your local church body. It’s easy to see how this is different from just trying to be winsome, seeker-sensitive, and trendy. In fact, I’m staunchly against “winsomeness” as it’s been defined by evangelical leaders in the last 10 years. Their idea of winsomeness smuggles in self-censorship and compromise. I’m also against churches trying to make Christianity seem cool and trendy by mimicking our rebellious secular culture. Christ-centered church branding doesn’t reduce or dilute the gospel message, it makes visible the unique identity of each local church. It doesn’t copy from the world, it argues that beautiful visuals and communication strategies actually belong to Christ. God is a designer, after all!

If you’ve ever thought about redesigning your church’s logo (or even just giving it a refresh), then you might’ve realized a unique challenge: The hardest part is finding a designer who won’t mess it up. To solve that, there are questions you should be asking which will save you loads of wasted time and frustration. Ask you logo designer this: Have you worked with churches before? What happens if we don’t like the logo? When we decide on the new look, how do we transition from old to new? Do you check for unintentional symbolism? Will you license fonts for us to use? Will you wait to share the project online until after we announce it? Do you use templates or pre-made designs? I can tell you these are important questions because they’re all based on real-world concerns, goals, and experiences. Anything you would add to his list?

This week we did our 2024 taxes. I mixed a protein shake, opened my laptop on our kitchen island, and braced myself. I always finish filing with a terrible taste in my mouth… and you can bet it’s not the protein shake. This year we got hit with an underpayment penalty. We hadn’t let Uncle Sam withhold as much as he needed, and he punished us for it. As much as I hate taxes, the experience wouldn’t be so bad if there were regular communications from the IRS throughout the year. I want to know in August if I’m on track to have my taxes paid in full. I want to have deductions top of mind so I remember to save documents and receipts. Here’s the point: Regular, substantive communication is key if you want to build a healthy brand. Nobody wants to be the IRS, but without communication, you increase your risk for leaving a bad taste in someone’s mouth.

Church road signs are notorious for being clever instead of clear. The thing is, people only remember a message if they understand it. Unless you’re G.K. Chesterton or Mark Twain, you’re probably confusing people with clever puns, double entendres, and wordplay. The same goes for your branding. Is it easily understood? Does it connect with a deeper meaning? Does it point to your story? Strong brands prioritize clarity.

I recently watched the movie Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch. It chronicles the genius work of Alan Turing to crack the Enigma cypher during WWII. Germany was using encrypted messages to send critical instructions to its ships and submarines via radio. The Americans could intercept the messages, but couldn’t decode them fast enough. The Germans knew that a message is useless if it can’t be understood by its recipient. When you’re crafting your vision, mission, and brand, how often do you evaluate if it will be understood by your audience? Are you putting it in language they’re familiar with? Does your logo capture something they resonate with?

Podcast logos are different from regular branding because they don’t have to work in as many contexts, at least not early on. Much of the skill in logo and identity design is making something extremely flexible. With a podcast that exists only online, you don’t need that level of flexibility. All you need is memorability. Unlike an organization or business, you probably won’t be printing, stitching, or putting your logo on top of other graphics and photos very often. This means your podcast can have a full color photo or graphic with plenty of detail. SO… follow these steps if you want a podcast logo that’s eye catching, memorable, and free. Distill the big idea Decide if it needs to match your church brand Identify who it is for and what they like Feed all that information to ChatGPT and ask it to write a Midjourney prompt that will give you a podcast logo Plug the prompt into your AI image tool of choice Refine the language in your prompt if needed Remember, all you need is memorability, so don’t be afraid to go outside the box!

Limitation breeds creativity. Ask any artist or creative person, and they’ll tell you that their proudest moments are when they’ve solved a problem with restrictions, limitations, or pressure. Whether it’s limited time, resources, space, color, etc. those boundaries become a unique seed in which creativity grows and blossoms. This applies to new projects and ongoing brand work (aka tending your brand). Here’s the point: Don’t be afraid to put limitations in place. Committing to a deadline, color palette, or style is actually one of the best things you can do for your brand.