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Design Tips
How to Make a Good Design — EASY!!
It seems that churches often suffer from horrid-design-syndrome. Which is a horrid shame. I would consider designing to be extremely important in the church. For events, website, logos, classes, promotions, announcements, etc. It does a few extremely important things…
- Creates interest and attention on the event
- Indicates effort and interest put into the event
- Communicates real desire for others to be involved
But we dont usually have a resident graphic design artist at hand. So, this is a guide for the rest of us.
- Steal ideas - A good verse for design is “there is nothing new under the sun”, so stop trying to be so creative! A quick browse of the internet will give you some really great ideas for what you could make. If you are planning a “Friend Day”, type “friend day” into Google Images and you will be automatically inspired. Here is a good rule of thumb, if it looks good to you, it will to someone else. So, just look around until you find something that really really looks good and mimic that look! (You could also be more general in your searches too, i.e. “event poster” instead of “friend day”)
- Steal fonts - A very elementary design mistake is to get the most creative fonts and use as many of them as possible. Makes for a very cluttered and messy look. We want it to look fresh and clean instead. Start to take special notice of how others use fonts on billboards, signs, advertisements, and follow those principles. Do NOT just look at other churches! Look at designs everywhere!
- Get an excellent picture for the background - An excellent photo will almost automatically make a stunning design. So, invest in this part of the design process especially. An excellent resource for this is istock photo. Even if you dont use a picture from them, it has excellent browsing features that will help you greatly in finding a good photo. This is a great place to just type the name of your event in their search and see what kind of concepts it returns. Then often you can find a photo for free elsewhere. But dont be afraid to spend the dollar or 2 on an excellent picture!! You could spend $10/month with istock and it could result in a DRASTICALLY improved output. Its worth it. It is your public face.
- Make sure everything is clear and sharp - Pictures and Fonts. They can look fine on the computer screen and horrible when printed. Make sure you print with the 300dpi setting. Things for web and screens can be much lower quality.
- Make text readable - Notice text on advertisements, there is always a main title that is very readable.
- Use a real design program - Photoshop is preferable, but Gimp is always a free option. Get away from Publisher, Word, and Paint! Get a program that will allow you to do layers, and text effects like shadows, stroke, and glows.
- Keep trying - Trial and error will get you making decent designs soon. Just notice how others do it and work on being like them.
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