Most churches have room to improve in their media department but really don’t know where to start. Some may be blessed enough to have great designers on staff or volunteering that are able to keep everything looking fresh and top notch, but chances are pretty good that if you’re reading this post your church doesn’t.
When I first got started in church media it was a rare thing for a church to have a projector and screen. Now many churches use multiple projectors, monitors, screens, lights, ponies, jugglers, clowns…it’s truly staggering, and more than a little intimidating. That’s why I want to give you 10 things you can do to get your church’s media ministry on track.
Without a doubt, the #1 way to improve your church media right now is:
Create and use a great default/logo screen.
This may seem basic, but I’m always amazed at churches that don’t have this simple step taken care of. In fact, I tell churches that are looking to install or upgrade a system that this step is so important that they shouldn’t even turn their new projector on without having this in place.
This is the screen that you should land on when nothing else is going on. No song lyrics to show? Logo. No announcement loop running? Logo. Pastor forgot to give you a title for his message? Logo. Even if your church has a live video feed on the screen during services, you should have a default logo screen ready to go in case of interruptions to the feed and simple branding purposes.
Of course, this all starts with having a great logo. This topic deserves, and will eventually receive, a post all its own. We can argue about the importance of church marketing and the over-reliance of churches on slick techniques all day long, but the bottom line is that your church needs a graphic representation of its identity/brand.
Even without a logo, however, you can still have a nice default screen. I believe that type is beautiful. I collect fonts like stereotypically cliched women collect shoes. I love them. If you don’t have a logo, create something with type. Go to Google. Get creative. Just stay away from fonts that are too common or default (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri), too playful (Comic Sans, I’m looking at you), or just terrible (still looking at you, Comic Sans).
I've seen churches do this — Times New Roman on their default computer wallpaper. So sad.
Much better. A contrasted logo on a simple background allows the identity to stand out.
If your church is more contemporary with a younger attendance, consider using a sans-serif type face such as Helvetica or Myriad Pro. If you have a more traditional church, older attendance, or simply want something more classic try serif fonts such as Garamond, Trajan, or Requiem Display. Some of these are pay fonts and while they’re well worth the money, you can easily find alternatives by Googling “free [font name] alternative.” You’ll be amazed. Also, check out the excellent free font resources at Smashing Magazine, which features little known fonts that are freely available, but not overexposed.
A few last quick tips:
Composition matters: Pretend you’re playing Operation when it comes to getting close to the edges of your screen, and your patient (the composition) will die if you get too close. Please, don’t kill him. Try to keep your logo or typography generally in the center and about 20-25% within the borders of your document.
Contrast, contrast, contrast. Make sure your colors aren’t too evenly toned. If your screen were grayscale, would you be able to see and distinguish the logo from the background at a distance? Choose lightly textured backgrounds (for example, use Google images and search for “old paper”, “concrete textures”, “watercolor texture”) that will allow your logo or typography to really stand out. If it’s a dark background, present your logo in light colors or white with a subtle drop shadow. If it’s a light background, go with a dark logo or typography.
Too much is too much. If you have Photoshop or some sort of alternative it’s really tempting to add all kinds of nifty effects such as a gradient, a stroke, a shadow, a bevel, a texture…it’s too, too much. If you have a great logo, you’ll rarely need to add anything more than a subtle drop shadow to make it pop. With type you may feel that you need to compensate by adding all those things — don’t. Less is more.
So that’s it! This one small step could be transformative for your church media department, so get to work! You may want to grab my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter or Facebook to know when I post the rest of this series. In the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to comment below.
