There’s so much to do in your ministry. From organizing small groups and writing sermons to setting up charity events and laying out your church’s design strategy—we know you’ve got a lot on your plate.
You’re putting in all this work, and the best reward is having more and more people who share your love for the Lord and join your church’s events. Because, if one thing’s for sure:
Your church can’t afford to go ignored.
We are all wondering how we can improve our church branding efforts. To make it easier for you, we’ve gathered some stellar graphic design ideas you can use to make your church stand out.
But before we go there, let’s see why design should not miss from your church’s life.
4 Reasons Why Church Design Is Important
In the world of business, graphic design has a powerful spot. Although it serves totally different purposes, it plays a strong role in church branding and getting your name out there.
One way to catch congregants’ attention is through eye-catching graphic design. Sharing visual content is a great way to inform an audience about news, events, and your church in general—and good design can really drive a message and make it clear.
However, when it comes to church branding, you need to be careful about the message you want to send. “A church might go overboard and focus way too much on making their church look “cool” and the narrative gets lost. The most shining examples of great design will communicate and inspire, ” says Church Mag.
Let’s see how does flawless graphic design impact churches and ministries and why you shouldn’t set it aside.
#1. Visual Content BeatsText
Like it or not, we live in a visual world. Studies show the brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than text.
As Church Mag points out, “Graphic design can be a megaphone for the Truth that is being taught or conveyed. ” That’s why creating visual content is one of your church’s best move to spread the word of God and share the love.
#2. It Draws Attention
“Ministry is all about communicating the Gospel. If we cram text into a single piece of white paper with no margins, colors or graphics it won’t catch or hold people’s attention, and then you will have failed in your mission to communicate the Gospel. We need to catch and hold the attention of people long enough to convey to them the truths of the Bible,” highlights Church Mag.
#3. It Showcases A Church’s Benefits
Church design is all about showing people why they should join your cause and what can your ministry do for them.
According to Church Mag, “A clean and simple design can help quickly explain the benefits and solutions that a product or service brings. Though as a Church or a ministry we are not selling products and services as much, our product is the lives we touch. Presenting the results of our ministries in a clean well-thought-out design can help people quickly understand the personal benefits they can gain from being a part of your church or getting help from your ministry.”
#4. It Creates Emotional Bonds
Powerful images speak to us on an emotional level.
For example, in our previous post, we talked about how logos can be a bridge between a church brand and congregants. Church branding is about the experience people have with your ministry and the bond that creates between them, our Lord, and a church.
Before rushing into it, Church Mag invites you to think about the following questions:
What is the experience you want to present to your church members?
What do you want your ministry to be known for in the community?
How can you solidify that experience and relationship using graphic design?
We thought it’s time to equip church leaders with some graphic design knowledge.
Essential Design Principles You Need to Know For Your Church Design
To clearly communicate the vision of your church and how it’s impacting the local community, you need to know some design principles.
Graphic Designer Wes Wilcox grew up in a small church where he saw the churches’ struggle with producing well-designed marketing materials. He shared a bunch of church design principles to produce effective visual content.
#1. Clarity
The best approach to church design is to tell a clear story and send a straightforward message. Here are some rules to follow if you want to create clear visual content:
- Colors matter. “Use contrasting colors, avoiding light-on-light text and background combinations such as white text on a yellow background. What may appear readable up close may be difficult to read from a distance. Use contrast to allow the words to “pop” on the page or the screen,” says Wes.
- Make the text stand out. “Never place text—including lyrics—on top of a photograph unless it contains ample areas of solid color or a soft-focus background. Distracting designs can be a hindrance to the worship experience,” he adds.
- Brand consistency is key. “Be sure to keep in mind your church’s target demographic when developing logos and think about what does your design and color combination say to your target audience.”
#2. Alignment
The way in which different elements are aligned gives the design a definitive structure and creates balance. Good alignment improves readability and removes the messy effect of randomly placing elements.
Here’s rule number one: never mix alignments.
As Wes points out, “If you are left aligning the text on a poster in one area and center aligning elsewhere, the design will lack clarity (remember how important that is?) and will distract from the message. You want all the elements of your design to work together, guiding the reader’s eye to the most important parts of the page or screen.”
#3. Simplicity
There’s beauty in simplicity. When the design is simple, our brains can easily get the message. Busy designs are overwhelming.
“The temptation is to add all sorts of fun design elements—clip art, photos, and cool swashes. Don’t. This practice creates clutter, distracts the eye, and limits clarity,” adds Wes.
The Relationship Between Church Design and Growth: 10 Quotes From Church Communicators
We gathered nine quotes from church communicators on why graphic design plays a big role in their ministry and the rise of their congregations.
#1. “One of the main jobs of the church, if not the main job is to communicate – graphic design helps us do that well.” – Rebecca Harris
#2. “Good design is powerful. Great design is invisible.” – Neil Fischer
#3. “It enriches the experience, adds professionalism and creates a strong branding.” – Carol Wyatt
#4. “If only some churches realized there’s more to communicating the gospel than a sermon on a Sunday.” – Elizabeth Webster
#5. “Churches need to realize the value that communication through design can bring to the table – and treat it accordingly.” – Jordan Gillman
#6. “Good design communicates value to your guests. Don’t underestimate the power of well-crafted collateral.” – Shad Fox
#7. “Design speaks the international language and transcends borders. Churches should leverage it to the max.” – Steve Fogg
#8. “Good graphic design can drive a message, make it clearer.” – Marcy Heinz
#9. “[Graphic Design is] the most important investment we made as a church-plant.” – Ben Davis
7 Graphic Design Ideas To Get Inspired By
You don’t have to figure out church design all by yourself.
At Design Pickle, you get matched with a graphic designer who knows you by name and understands your church branding needs.
Design Pickle clients can send church design requests straight to their queue. You simply click on the button below each design, customize it to include the text you’d like, and send it over to your designer. You can also include notes with your requested changes, fonts, graphics, colors, and more for your designer to take care of. Voila! Depending on your queue length, you can have your finished designs back in 24 hours.
To make it easier for you, here’s a list of seven graphic design ideas to promote your church.
1. Event Flyers
Have an upcoming retreat? Design a flyer or a poster that outlines all the need-to-know details for your church members. You can distribute printed copies before and after services, or hang them around church grounds to encourage registration.
2. Instagram Quote Posts
You’re a modern church, so you probably have an Instagram account. Connect people to your mission and the word of God with some relevant Bible quotes. Customize this layout with your favorite verses. Simple and striking, this design can be further customized with other beautiful stock images or fonts that will make it look right at home in your feed.
3. Liturgical Calendar Infographic
For newer members or those coming back after a long absence, infographics are a great way to introduce new topics and share easy-to-digest information. An infographic can teach your congregation about different parts of the liturgical year. You could also use these to outline guidelines for upcoming events or even provide gentle reminders for everyday living.
4. Charity Promotions
As a church, you do a lot of good for the greater community. You also rely on your members to make each charity event a success. Make sure you’re promoting each of your initiatives with unique graphics that will help bring awareness to your cause.
5. Custom made T-Shirts
Get unique and modern t-shirt designs for your youth or adult sports leagues that will help your teams look uniform and professional on the court. With a Design Pickle subscription, you can create an awesome t-shirt for your team like the ones below.
6. Sermon Series Graphics
You’ve invested a lot of time and effort into writing a great sermon series for Sunday Worship. All that work should have some beautiful graphics to complement it. Your designer can create unique graphics to bring your sermon series to the next level. A beautiful themed sermon series can elevate your congregation’s worship experience.
7. Guidebooks
Small groups are so valuable to all those who participate. To help bring even more value and learning to small groups, short guidebooks provide a way to encourage and shape the conversation. Have you thought about creating your own guide for your small groups yet?
Now, since we’re talking about ways to promote and grow your church and make it more inviting to its members, we thought it’s time to talk about the importance of preaching and sermons.
How to Attract More Members With Your Sermons
According to Grow Church:
“The number one way to grow your church is through preaching better sermons.”
There’s so much church leaders and preachers can do to make sermons more engaging for congregants and keep them coming back week after week. Check out these tips for inspiration:
1. Tell Creative Stories
Where do you get your ideas for sermons?
Many times we end up learning our pastor’s stories by heart, when, in fact, we’d love to hear new, inspiring ones. The Creative Pastor makes a good point when they say pastors need to add more creativity to their message, because “People love a good story.”
“Jesus drew crowds because he spoke with authority about real-life issues. He engaged with his audience, gave real-life examples and told interesting stories, ” points out Grow Church. The same way as Jesus spoke in relevant parables, you could use storytelling to create a stronger bond between your church and its members.
2. Embrace New Media
“One of the things I’ve discovered about preaching is … it’s relatively easy if all I’ve got to do is read a text and apply it. But today … there are so many creative elements around it,” told NewSpring Church Pastor, Perry Noble, Christian Post.
So why not include movies and audio clips to highlight sermon points? Think about it as a powerful way to create meaningful preaching moments.
3. Add Testimonial Videos
Speaking of media files, sharing testimonial videos is a powerful way to make an impact among congregants.
“I recently visited a church where the pastor communicated a fantastic sermon on giving. But as I look back, I cannot recall the pastor’s exact sermon points or give you a list of specific scriptures. What has stuck with me, however, is a 3-minute testimony video of one of their members sharing how tithing changed their life. It was an incredible video that validated everything the pastor had been preaching for 30 minutes,” says The Creative Pastor, Kendall Conner.
4. Include More Photos
You the saying that goes: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
“One of the best ways to make your sermon more alive is to display photos to accompany your words. […]The key to all of these is to be intentional that it all has a purpose and that it adds to your message rather than distracting,” adds The Creative Pastor.
Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to get creative and make sermons memorable for your congregants.
Over to You
Like any of these designs? If you’re a Design Pickle customer, just click on the buttons to customize and send these designs to your designer. If you’re not yet a Design Pickle customer, check out our plans to see how your church can get an unlimited graphic design for an economic, flat rate.
