One Prayer 2009 artwork

Finally! Here it is. I’m just going to come out and say it, this was a beast of a project. A big, beautiful beast.

First, you can find out all about One Prayer, including what’s different this year, at oneprayer.com

Recognizing that each church is different, we’re offering three pieces this year so that each church can choose the art that best represents its style:

So why was it a beast? Well, here were some of my objectives:
- Visually represent God.
- Create 3 pieces that are different enough to work for a spectrum of possible church styles, but are not so different that they undermine the spirit of unity that defines One Prayer.
- Remain generic enough to support infinite possible answers to the “God is…” question, but descriptive enough to be provocative and interesting.
- Communicate both “One Prayer” and “God Is…” without being confusing.
- Please hundreds of churches at the same time.
- Visually represent God.

This is by no means a pity party. I’m thrilled to be a part of such an amazing collaboration in the Church. Complaining about having to design for One Prayer would be like complaining about winning a million dollars and not knowing what to buy. I just thought it might be interesting to know some of the obstacles I faced while working on it.

Now to start on all of the different version of animations…

One Prayer ‘09 very cryptic sneak peek

Today, I finally packaged up the graphics for 2009’s upcoming One Prayer event, and sent them off to the web team. They’ll be dropping soon, and I’ll be the last one to ruin a surprise, but here’s a glimpse – well maybe a glimpse of a glimpse – at some of the art we’ll be using.

We’re handling things a bit differently this year. I’m excited to see how it all pans out. I’ll definitely have to give some backstory when it’s all out there, because this has been a very unique project.

Does the church really need design/media?

It’s a question that I comes up from time to time, from people who don’t get it and sometimes even from myself. We designers can get a bit self-righteous, but sometimes I really step back and ask: is our job, as designers and media producers in the church, really all that necessary? In the grand scheme of things?

Here are some reasons why I think it is. 

1. It speaks to those who aren’t listening. Whether it’s right or not, many people will judge your (our) church without ever setting foot in it. A lot of those judgments, sadly, will be something along the lines of “there’s nothing for me there,” “those people are completely out of touch,” or “they can’t possibly have anything interesting to say.” A well-executed (notice I didn’t say “edgy” or “relevant”) design, though, can speak volumes to someone who won’t give you a chance to say anything else.

2. It’s way more than marketing. Yes, our job is to get people in the doors to hear the teaching, but it’s also more than that. Art can enhance the teaching by penetrating areas of consciousness and emotion that spoken word cannot, giving the message an even greater impact (and can even make that teaching resonate longer by providing a visual reminder of the feelings/thoughts experienced during the message).

3. It’s damage control. What we represent is important. Way more important than some product or company, and if those things warrant hours of energy devoted to protecting their image, why doesn’t the church? Frankly, there are plenty of people out there giving us bad PR. I consider it a personal goal to tear down misconceptions, and deliver an accurate representation of what it’s like to follow Christ. I can do that through design.

Those are just a few “off the top of my head” reasons. Do you have others?

Interview on alreadybeenchewed.net and Collide.

I recently had the honor of being asked to do an interview for a blog at www.alreadybeenchewed.net and Collide magazine.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks to, and to point you toward, Barton Damer (if you’re not already familiar). He’s the one who asked the questions. He’s a stud, and does some pretty wicked stuff for Igniter media and others.