Where NOT to Get Church Branding Inspiration

In every sport, industry, and field of study, there are “the greats.” Basketball has Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant. Theology has Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin and Augustine. Depending on what part of the world you’re from, branding and design industry has its own greats. In the US, there’s Motto, Clay, CGH, and Matchstic. In the UK, you might know Pentagram, Landor, and Wolff Olins. Every designers dream is to apprentice for one of these legendary firms. However, there’s something that separates the greats from the rest of us that can’t always be taught. Sometimes it helps to get insights from those who are a few steps ahead of you - insights those already crossing the finish line at world-record pace may have forgotten. For some of us, myself included, we need it explained to us like we’re five. These legendary firms at the pinnacle of achievement have better things to do than dumb down their processes for me to understand. All that said, I’ve been spending some time to research approaches used by the (somewhat) newer faces in the branding and design world - firms like Koto, How&How, and DESIGNSTUDIO. In the coming days, I’ll be sharing key insights that you can apply to your church branding today. See you in the next one!

Let’s talk about First Baptist Aurora. This was a church that once thrived but found itself dwindling in numbers and energy. That is, until Pastor Robert stepped in with a vision to create a community where high school dropouts and doctors, recovering addicts and homeschool moms, could all worship side by side. He wanted people to feel like they truly belonged. The church started to grow again, but there was a problem: their visual identity didn’t match the new life happening inside the walls. So, I partnered up to help them rebrand. Two words shaped our entire process: historic and urban. We pulled colors from the church’s own brick, molding, and stained glass to create a palette that felt timeless yet fresh. The church’s beautiful stained glass windows inspired a modern logo and sparked a key design element: the arch. We used arches everywhere, from logos and icons to social media graphics, creating a look that felt unified and deeply tied to the building’s architecture and story. The result? A brand that bridges the old and the new. Today, First Baptist Aurora has not just a growing congregation but a clear sense of identity. Visitors connect more quickly, and the leadership has tools to keep building momentum. Here's the takeaway for pastors: A good rebrand isn’t just about looking pretty! It’s about helping people see what God is doing in your ministry are and inviting them to be a part of it. P.S. You can see the full case study here, including our in-depth process and more images/video.

I recently came across a church in Arizona called Ironwood. I’m absolutely enamored with the elegant simplicity of their brand, so I thought I would share it here as inspiration. The idenity of this church is centered around the idea that Jesus called his followers to have a soft heart and a steel spine - a rewording of the command to “be full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). How cool is that? In their branding and church culture, they committed to have tender hearts, overflowing with love, genuinely interested in people’s stories, quick to forgive, and humble enough not to take themselves too seriously. At the same time, they aimed growing spines of steel, with bold courage, unshakeable conviction, resilience in a world that pushes back, and a reverent fear of God. The symbol they chose to represent that was the native Ironwood tree, which is a slow-growing, incredibly strong and resilient species. These trees become a haven for desert life, and things come near them for life and protection. They also designed the logo to be viewed as from God’s perspective, which was a nice touch. Finally the coolest thing about Ironwood in my opinion, is that they had an actual, 80 year-old ironwood tree transplanted to the front campus. It can be seen on their map here: This is one of those brand identities that I didn’t get to work on, but wish I had. Hopefully you can also appreciate it’s elegance and effectiveness too.

I often talk about capturing your unique vision and church identity in a brand identity. However, when people hear “brand identity” they immediately jump to thinking about the logo. Hackney Church of London is proof that a generic logo can work (and shine) when it’s part of a well-executed design system. The church worked with London-based design firm OMSE, who was clearly capable of designing a much more nuanced and complex mark, so why did they do something so plain? They explain in their case study notes: We worked with Hackney Church to design a new identity that could flex across the breadth of their activities. From formal and often sobering occasions, to joyous celebrations. {{ comp.video({ src:"/img/hackney-church-logo-by-omse.mp4" }) }} Their choice of a minimalistic approach was strategic and intentional. Maximum flexibility was the highest priority - not explanatory power. If you take the time to review their rebrand case study, you’ll see how a logo doesn’t have to capture your entire vision, vibe, or identity. It just needs to be an entrance point. In other words, the brand identity is the house, and the logo is just the cornerstone. Here’s what Armin Vit, founder of the BrandNew blog had to say about Hackney Church’s new mark: In a way, it’s almost an overly generic icon that could apply to dozens of churches around the world but not only is the execution flawless in this case it also goes hand and in hand with the overall personality and vibe of the church both in its physical presence and its range of activities. What can we learn from this? Your logo doesn’t have to be so perfectly unique that it’s entirely unmistakable. In fact, it’s quite easy to paint yourself into a corner with a rigid, inflexible brand identity (speaking from personal experiences). Instead of relying on your logo alone to do the heavy lifting, copy OMSE’s approach with Hackney Church and focus on making your branding beautifully simple.

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.

Strip everything away, give your church a generic name, and make the logo a cross. Go black and white with your color scheme. Congrats - you have a timeless brand! I’m being a little bit sarcastic, but there’s an element of truth here. Over-simplification is usually the fastest, easiest way to a truly “timeless” look. However, it’s not the only way. And for churches, it’s almost never the best way. The history of the world is timeless by definition, but definitely not simple. God’s creative and recreative work is anything but minimalistic. The way God works is simple but deep, focused but rich with meaning. So too is the story being woven together in your ministry, whether it’s 200 years old or a brand new church plant. What is God’s perspective of your church? If you want a timeless brand identity, this is the question you have to answer. Once you start narrowing it down, your logo colors and fonts become clear and easy choices. Rather than trying to become timeless by using Helvetica and no colors in your brand guidelines, you should be looking for ways to incorporate the truth of who God says you are as a congregation. Does it take more work and intentionality? Absolutely. Is it hard? Anything worth doing is.

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.

Many churches when they come to me to consider doing a rebrand say something like “We want people to see that we’re a living, active church.” What better way to show that than with motion? Video is one thing, but moving graphics combined with photos are a good middle ground that can communicate a lot more than just a static image. According to the big players in the creative industry, motion is becoming more important for all brands - not just global ones. More and more, a brand’s digital presence is expected to move, breathe, and approximate “IRL” experiences. Done right, on-brand motion graphics have a high engagement potential, without the expense of shooting and editing actual video. How do you do this well? You need to know your brand’s unique personality. P.S. This is a series of posts where I’m sharing lessons we can learn from the great design agencies of today. These are firms with a massive portfolio of incredible projects for global, billion dollar brands. Their reputation has been built on sound branding fundamentals, which means something very good for us: their approach works just as well for churches!

Rebranding can be a tough conversation for some churches, especially when it comes to financial costs. But if you’re like many pastors, you see the value of starting with a clear, cohesive identity that your congregation can rally around and take pride in. How do you manage budget constraints while still investing in your brand? Well, if I had to design a brand identity from scratch with only $100, here’s what I would do: I would use ChatGPT. Yes - seriously! I created this prompt based on my experiences with ChatGPT and it’s surprisingly good go through the entire rebranding process: Act as a high end creative agency that’s going to help me design a visual identity for my church. I’m going to give you my church name and our distinctives, and you’re going to ask any probing questions you need to start putting together the building blocks of our visual brand. This will be an extensive project, so don’t jump into creating images just yet. Our interaction will be conversational and rely on feedback to refine and guide your creative direction. The project should generally follow this 4 step process: 1. Discover - you’ll get a sense of where my vision for the church and generate a brand vibe report with tone of voice, brand strategy, and target audience avatars. 2. Define - you’ll create separate mood boards that we can use to choose a visual style and general direction for the brand aesthetic. 3. Develop - you’ll get input from me on any symbolism from the church’s history, things our region/city is known for, and iconic parts of our building. Then you’ll present text-based logo ideas based on that input. If any of them resonate with me, I’ll ask you to generate images of logo concepts of that idea. 4. Deploy - you’ll generate a full bespoke suite of mockups of branded social media campaigns, video thumbnails, website homepage, stationary, merch, signage, and banners. These mockups should be done one at a time, and shown to me for feedback before we move on to the next. They should be brand-aligned and use the brand elements we’ve developed so far. Paste that into ChatGPT and follow the process through to the end. Don’t be afraid to give it feedback like you would a designer. Pro tip: Buy a month of Premium for faster image generation and access to versions of ChatGPT with the most in-depth reasoning. If you’re not satisfied with the outcome, that’s okay. You’re only out $20 and you probably have a much better idea of what you don’t want in your branding. This is tremendously valuable information if you do go to hire a pro.

Something I’ve only mentioned briefly in this newsletter thus far has been AI. It seems like that’s all anyone talks about these days, so I’ve tried to steer clear, lest I add to the noise. That said, there are some things that AI is extremely good at, one of those being communication strategy. I’m convinced that if you’re not using them, you’re handicapping yourself and your ministry. AI tools are not going away, in fact they’re getting more powerful and more accessible (aka FREE) all the time. So, let’s put it to the test with an upcoming event in your church. This could be an outreach event, a members-only potluck, or a community worship night - the sky is the limit! Tell ChatGPT something like: “You’re an experienced marketer and event promoter with a specialization in working with churches. When I give you information about my church’s upcoming event, I want you to help me come up with an event name, a tagline or short memorable description, and a promotion strategy that one person could reasonably execute. Start by asking for event details and things specific to my church like brand tone of voice.” I’m continually blow away at how effective ChatGPT is at brainstorming. Whether you’re a church of 100 or 1000, AI is an indispensable tool for planning, naming, and developing messaging around events or campaigns. Try using this prompt for your next event and see what happens!

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.

Look for symbolism Just like with your church logo, you’ll want layers of meaning and depth behind your church color choices. One way to accomplish this is through symbolism. Colors are symbolic because they can bring to mind a mix of material things and abstract ideas. Here are a few examples… but before I share them with you, keep in mind that these colors are broad and have many different meanings associated with them. The symbolism I’m focusing on here is related specifically to churches, and how a church might use these for their brand colors. Don’t start using them without doing your own research as well. Okay, with that out of the way, here are some color symbolism examples: Gold Gold can communicate permanency, age, and class. It symbolizes kingship, wealth, and light. Orange Orange can communicate energy, friendliness, and youthfulness. It symbolizes flowers, fire, and sunsets. Red Red can communicate courage, warmth, and gravity. It symbolizes blood, life, love, and sometimes purity. Purple Purple can communicate spirituality, depth, and confidence. It symbolizes royal robes, heaven, and wisdom. Teal Teal can communicate balance, peace, and renewal. It symbolizes healing, water, and growth. If you want to go deeper, here’s where you can read more on color symbolism and usage (from a secular source). 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.