Tending an Outdated Church Brand

In 2021, my wife and I moved back to our home town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma and joined the church we now call home - Hope Presbyterian Church. The church had hired a Ukrainian designer on Fiverr and got a fantastic logo design (it even won an award). But there was a problem… All they had was that logo. Their whole “brand” was limited to a gold color and a couple of webp’s. While the logo was aesthetically pleasing, it wasn’t enough to help their people “get” the mission. Each billboard, banner, and invitation card was inconsistent and time-consuming, even for the creative associate pastor. The more they tried to make their branding work in the real world, the more things got messy and out of alignment. Members with design experience were called on over and over again to come in and help “fix” designs, which always ended up being a band-aid for the real issue. What my home church went through is the result of a logo design without a true brand. They needed an easy-to-use branding toolkit with theological depth - one that would represent more than just the name of their church. A kingdom-first brand would have given their congregation ownership of the vision their leaders were casting, and would have attracted more visitors who resonated with the message they preached. And that’s why I stopped designing logos, and started developing kingdom-first brands instead.

It’s no secret that people remember images better than words. Studies show we can remember 65% of visual information after 3 days, compared to just 10% of written/spoken info. That’s a 6x increase in retention! But why does it matter for churches? Good question. Something I’ve learned is that a brand isn’t just a logo, colors, or fonts. A church brand is an opportunity to tell the story of what God has done and is doing in that local ministry. Said another way: your brand is the visual aid for people to easily remember what their church stands for, and the story God is telling there. This ties in closely to the examples we have in the Bible of when the Lord commanded that a monument be built to signify his mercy and might. In Joshua 4:1–10, God tells the Israelites to take twelve stones from the Jordan River and set them up as a memorial. This visual monument served as a lasting symbol to help future generations remember how the Lord miraculously stopped the river’s flow, allowing His people to cross on dry ground. These stones were set up intentionally as a tangible visual aid to reinforce the Israelites’ generational memory and faith. To add even more layers, God also instructs that twelve stones be used. Why twelve? To symbolize the twelve tribes who crossed over the Jordan that day. In the same way, designing an intentional brand identity with symbolism and permanence is the most powerful way to help your people remember their God-given identity as a body and look to Christ, week in and week out.

Your logo isn’t a brand, nor is the name of your church a brand. Your color palette, word mark, fonts, and church website aren’t your brand either. These things only serve to ASSOCIATE your church with the big idea that is your message. Make this association enough times with enough people, and NOW you have a brand. Think about it like this: Branding is the vehicle for your message. It’s the wrapper! The packaging won’t change the chemical make up of the burger, but it can still make the burger taste better, and turn a meal into an experience worth sharing. So, to answer the question how much branding does a church need, the answer is none. None? Right. If you don’t have that big idea clarified and nailed down, you can design the most beautiful identity system and logo in the world and not have a brand.

For those of us with book collections, there’s just something about a well designed book cover. I’m talking kind that makes you do the chefs kiss every time you see it. Maybe one even comes to mind for you. I continue to find new books with beautiful cover designs, but there was one recently that confused me until the third or fourth time I picked it up to read. The book is called Designing Brand Identity, 6th edition by Alina Wheeler and Rob Meyerson. When I first saw the cover, I didn’t give it a second thought…. After all, I had bought the book for what was inside. It wasn’t until I saw it again from far away that I realized what the design was supposed to be: a number “6” for 6th edition. It was staring me in the face! I had the epiphany when my folks happened to be over at our house, so I showed my dad the hidden number in the design. His observation was, “That seems like bad design, shouldn’t they have made it more obvious?” It’s a good question: would the design have been better if it hadn’t been so subtle? Here’s my take: For most books, the cover only has two key pieces of information it needs to convey: the title and the author. The edition is usually a secondary or tertiary piece of info, if it’s included on the cover at all. There’s another more important function of the book cover, however. That function is to be distinct and enticing. If a book cover immediately identifies a book as different from all the other books on a shelf, it has done most of its job. This bright yellow book cover with swirling shapes did that. Here’s the application to branding: The purpose of your church logo isn’t to explain who your church is. In fact, it only matters a little if it has your church name at all. The most important thing in a logo is that it identifies you as distinct from others. If it doesn’t do that, you might as well not have a logo at all.

Let's say your brand’s hero color was a bright red. Your wayfinding signs should be red to be on-brand, right? Not so fast! Would you put a bright red couch in your living room? What about multiple bright red paintings throughout your home? Again, probably not. For environmental signage and way-finding, we have to think more like interior designers and accessibility experts than graphic designers. Earlier in the rebrand process, we had developed a brand color palette for this particular church with a dark charcoal color we called “Forge Black.” Using this darker, more neutral color as the main background was a good choice for three reasons: It wouldn’t clash with the paint, flooring, and other interior colors of the building. It wouldn’t show dirt as easily as a lighter color. It would allow for the most legibility and contrast for the text. As you can see, we did bring in the red hero color, but only in a very intentional, minimalist way. Even the logo on the signs was intentionally subdued and understated to make room for more important information, like “¿donde esta el baño?”

If you go read online, ask ChatGPT, or just generally do color-related research, you know how big of a topic color really is. If you’re like me, it can leave you feeling a little… lost? People have written books and given 2 hour lectures on color theory, color psychology, digital color management, and everything in between. Even just scratching the surface can feel completely overwhelming. You might be thinking, “It feels like I should be using these principles, but how do I actually put them into practice for my church?” Even after reading my work specifically about church brand colors, it might not be clear how to actually apply this knowledge to your specific needs. And at end of the day, color is just one piece of the puzzle. That’s where having a personal guide can be a total game changer. With someone to make objective recommendations and help you avoid common mistakes, not only will you save time, you’ll save the headache of having to rethink your branding decisions in a few years. Ideally you would want this person to be a proven expert who loves the capital “C” Church and has a strong track record of branding success stories. If you’re looking for that kind of guidance, I’ve spent countless hours meeting with church leaders and translating their gut feelings into concrete messaging and visuals. I know the struggles and hurdles pastors face when nailing down exactly how their church should look, speak, and feel. Book a strategy call with me and I’ll talk with you one-on-one about what your goals are, the context your church is in, and how you can make your branding fit without the DIY headaches. See you there!

Bonus 1: Use a color palette tool Creating, adjusting, saving and sharing color palettes isn’t actually all that easy. That’s where a color palette website can be invaluable. I mentioned this website up above called Coolors. When I first discovered it, I thought “where have you been all my life?!” Unlike most color websites out there, this one lets you do much more than browse and save color palettes. You can visualize your color palette in different contexts, do global adjustments to the whole palette at once, extract colors from an image, and even use a huge library of unique color names. They didn’t sponsor me, but I really like using it. Maybe you will too. Bonus 2: Ignore CMYK and Pantone …unless you’re working with a pro, that is. When I create a brand guide for a client, I include CMYK and Pantones as a nice addition, fully expecting that they will never be used. Almost all print shops and vendors these days have automatic conversion between color spaces that is usually reliable, accurate, and consistent. Even if you’re having screen printed t-shirts made or running off thousands of flyers, Pantone and CMYK values are only helpful in very specific situations. Long story short, HEX codes are probably all you need. P.S. This week I’m focusing on church brand color selection principles, which I’ve gathered the hard way from years of church rebrands. If you want the complete guide, I’ve collected all of the principles into a single post here.

Using tints and shades is a powerful way to get more mileage out of your visual identity without adding new base colors. What this means for color selection is that you don't have to worry about that exact palette working in every possible scenario. A tint is a lighter version of the same color. Shades are darker versions of the same color. Tint = Base color + white (lighter version) Shade = Base color + black (darker version) While you might not need them in everyday use (especially with a professionally designed color palette), there are situations where your standard set of base colors are going to clash or look too opinionated. For example, a limited color palette might handicap your web designer. Because websites are interactive and display lots of information in different formats, they often call for a suite of neutral colors, ranging from dark to light. You might also find that a particular color works well online and in print, but is too strong and vibrant for apparel. A tint or shade of that color might make for a more wearable and fashion-friendly t-shirt than the original swatch. If your palette feels incomplete or you’re looking for good supporting colors, consider using tints or shades of your core colors to round it out. P.S. This week I’m focusing on church brand color selection principles, which I’ve gathered the hard way from years of church rebrands. If you want the complete guide, I’ve collected all of the principles into a single post here.

For way-finding signage, there are three critical things to get right with typography: Size, Style, and Grouping. To figure out how big the font size should be on your signs, think about the furthest possible viewing distance for that sign. Will visitors be seeing it up close every time, or is it at the end of a hallway? A general rule of thumb is that the main headings on the sign should be legible from 40ft away for someone with good eyesight. This applies mostly to directional signage, and isn’t necessary for things like room labels. Now on to font style. Legibility is absolutely critical for way-finding, so you want to choose a brand-aligned font that is easy to read. For the thickness or weight of the text, lean bolder rather than lighter. In this example, we’re using Larken, the main brand typeface, for the headings. The secondary typeface, Plus Jakarta Sans, was better suited for the other information and is more legible at small sizes. Finally, consider the grouping of information and arrows in your layout. You want to make sure that you have grouped relevant information together in a way that will quickly make sense to someone who is late for Sunday School!

A few months ago, Crossway released The Dyslexia-Friendly Bible, featuring a new font they called “Grace.” The design team took a data-driven approach, carefully studying and testing what tiny details makes a font more accessible for dyslexic readers. This Bible also featured special design touches to make the reading experience more approachable, and less fatiguing. The team working on the design used existing studies, focus groups, and user testing to optimize things like paragraph spacing and line height (and other technical specs we designers are thinking about all the time). The end result was a beautiful product that is already changing the way thousands read and access God’s Word. This brings me the same joy as when the Scriptures are translated into a new language. Praise God! It’s also a good reminder that intentional design can make your localized vision and message accessible to a previously “unreached” people group. Are you studying what prevents your congregation and community from "getting" it?

I’ll admit, I fit the graphic designer stereotype. I spend too much time oohing and ahhing over mockups, color palettes, and typefaces, and little tiny details that nobody else cares about. One way I fit the designer stereotype is that I’m a font hoarder… “That new typeface I bought? I know I saved it here somewhere….” “I’ll definitely use this font at some point… unlike the other one I bought last year and never used…” Maybe I am Michael Scott: Oscar: “Okay, the green bar is what you spend every month on stuff you need, like a car and a house.” Michael: “That's so cool how you have my name at the top.” Oscar: “The red bar is what you spend on non-essentials, like magazines, entertainment. And this scary black bar is what you spend on things that no one ever, ever needs, like multiple magic sets, professional bass fishing equipment.” Michael: “How did you do this so fast? Is this PowerPoint?” In that spirit, I want to share eight free or inexpensive fonts that you can use in your church branding to bring it into the 21st century and give it some life without breaking the bank. 1. Funnel Display / Funnel Sans Funnel Sans and Funnel Display are modern sans-serif typefaces with both clarity and character, originally developed by NORD ID and Kristian Möller for Funnel. Funnel Sans is a functional yet personal sans-serif, featuring both square and circular shapes in its letterforms. In Funnel Display, certain parts of the stems are shifted to further enhance the sense of movement. Get it here. 2. Inknut Antiqua Inknut Antiqua is an Antiqua typeface for literature and long-form text. Approaching the idea of web-publishing as a modern day private press, it is designed to evoke Venetian incunabula and humanist manuscripts, but with the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the kinds of typefaces you find in this artisanal tradition. Get it here. 3. TeX Gyre Bonum TeX Gyre Bonum can be used as a replacement for ITC Bookman (designed by Alexander Phemister, 1860, redesigned by Edward Benguiat, 1975). Get it here. 4. Outfit Outfit follows the forms of classic (and classy) geometric sans-serif families like Futura, but with 21st century features and modifications. Get it here. 5. Afacad The ’Afacad typeface project’ commenced in 2017 as a personalised lettering endeavour for Slagskeppet, a Swedish housing tenant, who sought fresh house address numbering for their entrances. The letters and numerals were meticulously crafted to harmonise with the architectural proportions and materials employed by Architect Sture Elmén during the 1940s. Get it here. 6. Felonia Felonia is an elegant serif font that blends retro and classic vibes, offering sophistication and a touch of nostalgia to your designs. Its timeless appeal makes it perfect for creating fresh and innovative designs. Get it here. 7. Hepta Slab Hepta Slab is a slab-serif revival based on specimens of antique genre types from Bruce and Co., primarily Antique 307. The family is a variable font which consists of 10 weights with the extremes intended for display use and the middle weights for setting text. Get it here. 8. Gambarino / Gambetta Gambarino is a condensed, single-weight serif face for headlines. Gambetta is intended for use in book design and in editorial design; the fonts come from Paul Troppmar. Get Gambarino here. Get Gambetta here.

It’s easy to look at only your church logo in isolation and think “Our branding is taken care of.” Here’s the problem: Most churches aren't using their branding toolkit very well. Or worse, they don't have one at all. Their website and bulletins look like they could belong to any church. Even with their logo on it, it says nothing about their vision and identity. Having a roadmap and process is all some churches need to get through a rebrand. For others, they need someone to guide them past the traps and time-sucks that can slow them down or make them give up all together. If your church is stuck with a lacking or nonexistent branding toolkit, I can help you fix that, without all the technical headaches, delays, and uncertainty of a DIY rebrand. Not only does it save stress, having a trusted design partner makes sure that you launch the new brand sooner rather than later, and with lots of buy-in from your congregation. I have a couple of openings over the next month, so let’s talk soon to see what that could look like in your church.