The Design Shed

Ok… so I am at it again. Creating more designs for churches and Christian Schools. I enjoy it more than words can express, but I do have some issues and some bones to pick.

First, the designer is the designer, we go to school for this and we study hard, plus we scour the internet looking at designs and design ideas to make us better at what we do. Clients do not! Sorry, if you are, then you are not doing your own job. I will say this though, I love when a client has ideas and inputs of what they like and what they don’t like, it makes our jobs as designers much easier. I enjoy working for someone who can have input, and see things the way they want it to look without compromising us designers and the design we are putting forth. Liberty Baptist Church of Durham, NC is very good at this, so is Lewis Avenue Baptist Church. Two churches I have had the pleasure of working with in past, present, and soon to be future.

Secondly, we cannot and will not copy someone else’s design, period. We will use elements and techniques of another, because nothing is new under the sun. I look at other sites all the time, and say, “I love this… I want to incorporate many of the ideas and styles in my own projects.” But I never say, “wow, this site is awesome, I am going to make mine exactly like this.” I am sorry, you don’t copy someone’s book and say it is your own, why would you copy a website or design and call it yours? Hello…

Thirdly and lastly, I enjoy building and designing websites, graphics, print, media, and anything else related to design. I enjoy it so much that I forget to study for my classes. Sometimes when I have an idea I stay in front of a computer hours at end without eating, drinking, and sometimes sleeping. I love design. I look forward to helping churches and ministries move their presence, whether it be online or print, to the next level and beyond. The reason is, businesses pay billions of dollars for designs; websites, commercials, print brochures, stationary, business cards, multi-media presentations - all in the hopes to make more money, and most of the time they do. Why shouldn’t a church or ministry behave the same way to win souls for Christ. I don’t mean to plop down millions of dollars, but what I am saying to take their websites, stationary, everything of multi-media seriously? We only have so much time to do our jobs, why not use that time efficiently and wisely.

There, that is it. All I am saying is designers are designers, don’t copy an idea - build on that idea and make it better, and become passionate about media design to use to win people for Christ. You can have a slick website and print without having rock-bands playing in the background. A good design should not compromise the mission of your church or ministry.

Enjoy.