inspiration

People have asked me where I get design inspiration from, so I thought I’d answer that question here. In my humble opinion, church branding on the internet is a mixed bag (at best). Even for someone like me with a decade of design experience, I loathe having to sort through what the algorithm overlords deem helpful. All these apps and websites are designed with one goal in mind: to trap you in the doomscrolling black hole. That’s why I contain browsing for inspiration to a very small sliver of my branding process, which happens AFTER the research and strategy phases. It keeps me grounded in the specific context of the project at hand and saves me from getting sidetracked by designs made for someone else. The best Inspiration comes from reality. Here’s the thing: The people, places, and things that make up your own unique context and story are the ones that will give you the best inspiration. You might not be able to relate to my love/hate relationship with social media (mostly hate), but I hope that you will tend your brand with a healthy dose of reality.

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.

I recently had the privilege of meeting Dr. Michael Reeves, Author, Professor, and President at the Union School of Theology in the UK. He had just finished speaking at an event, and I knew I had to ask him for any encouragement or advice he could give to you lovely people in the Tend Your Brand family. He was gracious enough to think my question over and offered an amazing reply. Here’s what he said: Braden: What advice or encouragement can you give to church leaders who are trying to better communicate their vision and galvanize their congregations? Dr. Reeves: I’m reminded of what Jesus said, “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” If you don’t believe in your vision, your congregation won’t believe in it either. If you’re bored with your message, the people you speak to will sense that lack of conviction. Seek God’s guidance sincerely and ask him for the conviction and resolve to preach your message with full-throated zeal. So there you go. I don’t feel like I can say it any better than he did, so I’ll leave it there. Hopefully his wisdom was encouraging and re-centering for you. P.S. It felt too much like paparazzi at the time, so I didn’t get a photo with him (maybe I should have anyway - ha!).

One of the things I do with every client is ask for pictures of their church building. It’s is one of the most straightforward and safest approaches to designing a logo, because you’re working with shapes and motifs which are already familiar to a congregation. When I can, I’ll actually go to the church for a visit to get a personal, up close impression and take photos for inspiration. What I’m looking for is anything that stands out as particularly iconic, or that could be simplified into a recognizable mark. Here are a few examples: Prominent stained glass windows Unique staircases Floor plan of the sanctuary Front-facing Doorways Recognizable pillars Repeating shapes like arches Interesting brick patterns These are just the places I generally look for visual inspiration in a church building. Your church might have other unique features, and I’d encourage you to make note of those too! If you’re gearing up for a rebrand at your church, I would be glad to help you gather inspiration, nail down your brand strategy, and execute the design of your new logo so that you can roll it out to your congregation seamlessly. I put my calendar up here if you want to find a time when we can talk about what God is doing in the life of your church.

It’s not always clear right away, but drawing inspiration from a church’s mission, vision, and values can make for a rich logo design with layers of hidden meaning, done right. When I get with a church to design their brand, I make a point to talk face-to-face with them about their vision, and the core purposes or values that define the culture (and theology) they’re trying to shape in their congregation. For some, it sounds esoteric, but I’ve used a process for dozens of church brands that extracts the themes and threads woven into their church distinctives. I look for any of those themes that could be represented visually, and draw from the symbols that come out of that process to add meaning and depth to the logo. With this approach, there’s a danger of trying to pack too much into one single mark. Representing your mission, vision, core values, purposes, etc. in a single logo is sometimes not possible. But that’s okay, because the purpose of a logo is to identify - not explain (yes, I’ll keep saying it). Before you go and try this yourself, keep in mind that the actual execution is hard. Compared to the other methods I’m talking about today, this is probably the most difficult to pull off. That’s why it can be helpful to hire someone who understands churches and specializes in branding. I offer this service to churches through my design agency, Restore Graphics. Go to that website, book a call, and we can chat about the vision you’re wanting to weave into your church brand.

If your church is aiming for a culture of permanence and community engagement, something unique about your city or region is a great place to get visual inspiration that can be incorporated into your brand. Many churches try to be “for the city.” But how can they show this in a more tangible way? The answer is borrowing an element of their environment that identifies them as belonging to that unique location. Maybe your city in California or Florida is known for a particular species of palm tree. Maybe your county in Kansas has the largest export of corn or wheat in the U.S. Maybe your region in the northeast is known for its fishing culture. Maybe your town has a unique layout from an aerial view You can see why research is such a critical part of the logo design and branding process. You probably won’t know about golden tidbits of inspiration like this until you do some digging. If I discover something like this while helping a church rebrand, I’ll experiment with visual motifs that fit their target aesthetic. Usually that looks like a subtle nod to the city through a color or integrated shape, but occasionally I’ll be more overt. Whether or not you end up finding a specific piece of visual inspiration that’s pure gold, there’s a good reason to do this research anyway: You’ll learn more about your city and community, making it easier to resonate with them in the other parts of your branding.

If you have a creative streak (or if you read this publication), you might occasionally notice the design choices made by your favorite brands. Think Apple, Nike, Chase Bank, etc. A majority of brand marks for the last several decades have followed a pattern when it comes to their logos: Abstract icon to the left, word mark to the right. However, nobody said you have to follow suit. In some cases, it’s perfectly appropriate to skip the abstract logo icon and go straight to a stylized word mark. This is a great approach when you have a short, unique name. That also means you’ll struggle if your church is named “First Baptist” or “Periwinkle Avenue Presbyterian Church.” Here’s a great example of a brand that leaned into their name with a strong word mark: Smirk - It’s clever, no? ;) Despite “icon-first” being the common approach to logo design in the corporate world, a well-crafted wordmark - like the one shown above - can bring a wealth of creativity and meaning to your brand, all on its own. Bonus Way: Monograms A second way to draw inspiration from your church’s name is to stylize and customize the first letter, also known as a monogram. Monograms have been around for centuries, so it makes sense that they would continue to be an effective means of identification. The monogram approach also helps with brand recognition because it stands for something very concrete: your church’s name. P.S. The tricky part about monograms is that they usually need a word mark to go with them. This puts you back at having a dualistic logo, except now the first letter of your church’s name gets repeated in the monogram and the word mark, which could be problematic.

If a church is rebranding, it usually means they’re wanting to start something new. Sometimes that looks like focusing on a younger audience or rewriting the distinctives and core values. But many times, the goal is to create separation from a previous scandal, former leadership, or mission drift. If your goal in a church rebrand is to put the past behind you, you might not consider taking logo inspiration from your history… but maybe you should! In fact, it can be totally appropriate to draw on your history for branding ideas. Here are a few reasons to consider: Your past challenges were leadership-specific Your congregation and community still resonate with the legacy of your church Your church is especially old and its history is genuinely redemptive So what does taking logo inspiration from your church history actually look like? If your church has an archive of historical artifacts and documents, dig around and see if there’s anything interesting. You'd be surprised at how many times a simple artifact or document has been the inspiration for a killer logo design. Keep your eyes peeled for things like: Stamps and seals Building illustrations or paintings License plates Hand-made items Articles of formation Items that were important to the founding members/pastor I’ve personally seen all of these in a church archive at one point or another. And at the end of the day, you’ve gathered a greater appreciation for the legacy of your congregation, even if you don’t find something to integrate into your brand. P.S. If a rebrand is intended to create separation from the your past (especially a painful one) then drawing visual inspiration from that same past can send mixed signals. Even if the intentions are good (e.g., honoring long-time members or heritage), using symbols, colors, or design language tied to a difficult era can unintentionally reinforce what you’re trying to move past.

I love magic. I’ve probably watched movies like the Prestige and the Illusionist more times than most people. But I recently learned the origins of a phrase that magicians love to say: “Abracadabra.” It comes from the Ancient Aramaic phrase, “Avra Kedavra,” meaning “I create as I speak.” We worship a God who is creative, the first sentence of the Bible tells us. But how does he create? We find out in the following verses that he does so with his speech. Words are how the God of the universe chose to express his creativity. We get to imitate his creativity using our own words. And it’s easier to do this now than ever. Because of AI, we live in a time where anyone can create anything - pictures, video, and interactive experiences - using just words. It feels like magic. With such a powerful tool at our disposal, should we not meditate on how this can be used to create things that will honor our Creator?

In the graphic design world, much of our time is spent on layout. This is because you usually have fixed content, and a fixed space where that content needs to go. If those two variables are set in stone, then it’s up to the designer to solve the Tetris puzzle - how can I fit X content into Y box? Sometimes this is easier said than done. As a brand designer who often continues to help churches “roll out” their new visuals following a rebrand, I want to make things as easy as possible for future Braden. What if we get a space where the logo doesn’t fit, or looks awkward? This comes up quite a bit, and it’s something that can be solved by having an alternate verison of your logo for just such scenarios. The need for a mark to fit into narrow spaces comes up more than you might expect. Lanyards Banners Table runners Outdoor signs Leather belts (just seeing if you’re paying attention) Creating a “wide” version of your church logo means your brand can look and feel comfortable in those spaces that are too narrow for a more squarish mark. The way you do this is pretty straightforward, with some caveats and a couple of bonus tips I’ll share at the end. Unstack multiple lines of text into one line Move the icon to the left or right side of the mark (sometimes it can go in the middle of the words) That’s it! Well, sort of… Below I’ve put an example of how to apply this in practice. Also, if your church does have leather belts with your logo, please stop it. Get some help.