eGrace Creative » design

Why Your Church Website Should Cost More than $100

admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:09:02 +0000

Probably a lot more! You probably should know that this article is inspired by three different interactions. One, reading Niki Brown’s article, Why Logos Should Cost More Than $300. Two, reading Jacob Cass’ Why logo design does not cost $5. Third, a common question I hear from Pastors, “how do I convince my church to spend money on a website when they don’t see the need?

So leaders, I’m going to attempt to give you some viable and truthful information about why a church should invest money in a church website…

To Honor God

Your building and grounds, bulletin shells, and website should all be done with exellence, fit for the King! Simple enough.

To Communicate the Gospel

A web site is another platform from which to spread the message of eternal life. I don’t think you should see your website as “just one more tool,” but that’s probably best left for a future post.

To Connect with the Public

You might still use a phone book, but most people under 30… no wait, 40 don’t. We use Google… or Bing… or Local, Ask, Dogpile (don’t ask) or something similar. The closest we get to the yellow pages is Google-411 or Anywho.com. So when John, Jane, and their kids Johnny, Jr., Jimmy, and Jasmin move to your town, they’re going to search for “churches in anytown, usa.” You might want to be there to meet them.

At Bethel, about 70% of the people who walk through our doors saw our website before coming!

To Provide Information About Your Church

Service times, maps, events, ministries offered, staff and leadership – all are common ingredients of church websites, and they should be. You’re telling everyone who you are.

Wait… our question wasn’t just “why do we need a website,” but “why do we need a good website, that costs money?” Well, here then…

Your Website Should Reflect Your Church’s Story and Personality

Please, please don’t use the template and space that comes with your home ISP account. Let me make this simple – your pastoral business card, church sign, bulletin, and website should all have a common theme – a brand if you will.

Your Website Should Encompass a Well-planned Usability Strategy

A page with a bunch of links and text worked great way back in the 90′s, but that was a previous century! A professional designer will understand your website from the perspective of a user, a visitor. The flow of information will be user-centric. You’ve got to think through your online communication strategy.

Your Website Should Look Good

Plain and simple – your church website shouldn’t stink. It should really look great, like these.

What Should A Website Cost?

Impossible to answer here. Why? Because there are a variety of needs, a variety of solutions, and a variety of approaches taken by a variety of designers. Personally, I’d be wary of anyone charging less than $750 – 1,000 for a complete site solution. I’d also probably avoid anyone charing more than a few thousand dollars, unless they’re really creating some awesome applications for you from scratch. So, anywhere from $750 – $5,000 depending on a range of factors.

Rather than look for a particular price, keep these points in mind…

Find a designer you can trust based on references, previous work, and the evidence of strong ethics.
Don’t be cheap. You’re paying for creativity and art, not a mass-produced commodity.
Don’t be extravagant. It’s God’s money (all of it) so be a wise steward, but don’t be cheap…
Form a relationship with your designer so that he can perform future work for you with a growing understanding of your vision and values.
Value a designer’s work as a contribution to the honor and glory of God.

They’re Still Not Convinced

I’ve been there. In fact, eGrace Creative exists today because I felt a $2,500 price tag would shock some of my congregational leaders into immediate cardiac arrest. So I started playing around with web creation software. That was 1998 and the rest is history. I’ve been helping churches since then. So my next post along these lines is going to be quite the opposite sentiment… How Can My Church Have a Nice Website for Less than $100 (They’re Too Cheap To Spend More)

Designing A Church Logo? Some Things to Remember

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:02:31 +0000

I like logos, and I certainly like church. I design church logos, in fact. So as I’ve sought inspiration by looking at other church logos, I’ve run across a lot of church “logos” about which I’d have to say, Jesus would not do this! So I thought I’d give some “subtle” advice in the way of some tips and tricks, beginning with what NOT to do… I mean never!!

Photos aren’t logos.

Don’t put a photo behind your church name. It’s a photo and a photo isn’t a logo. It doesn’t belong in a logo. It doesn’t stretch like a logo, feel like a logo, or smell like a logo. No photos!

If you have to use a photo, which you should never do, don’t use a photo of your church sign. Sure it’s pretty, but it’s a sign. No one cares. Instead, find a nice, pretty, flower-covered photo of your church cemetary. That will show everyone your church is alive!

Comic Sans is for comics.

Choose your typefaces wisely, and let’s just go ahead and rule out comic sans and anything like it, even if you advertise in the comics section.

Use doves, flames, flags, crosses, and globes sparingly, if at all.

I have a few logos to boast of that incorporate crosses or globes, but these five images are terribly abused and over-used. Nobody outside of Christianity has a clue what the dove means. Flags alienate people who don’t carry the ones you display. Flames can mean passion, but they can also mean other things. Crosses are ancient electric chairs, instruments of cruel execution. Don’t gold-plate them. And globes are okay, they’re just everywhere.

Don’t animate anything.

Crosses don’t spin. Flames don’t look like flames when crackling on a computer screen. And please, please, don’t let any images bleed on your web page. Besides, seems like I read somewhere that crosses and flames are overdone.

Avoid clipart.

Clipart has its place – right next to the comic sans font. It was an 80′s thing, like shell necklaces.

Look at great inspiration.

Look here… please!

Top 33 Church Logos

Church Logos by Jeff Fisher

Creattica’s Logo Gallery (Church logos)

Have You Seen Any Good Church Logos?

Midweek Creative Design Inspiration

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:00:28 +0000

The web has been hopping this week with all kinds of awesome creative design inspiration! Normally, I post my weekly favorites on Sunday night or Monday morning, but I’ve collected more than usual this week, so I’m going to post today and again over the weekend. So… enjoy!

Jaw-Dropping Examples of Beautiful Contact Page Designs

20+ High-Quality Free Fonts for Retro and Vintage Design

17 beautiful Designer Portfolios

Great Designers Steal?

15 Stunning Typography Portraits

38 Business Cards of Top Graphic Designers

80 Corporate Website Designs For Design Inspiration

25 Exceptional Examples of Long Exposure

35 Beautiful Minimal Websites

30 Beautiful Wood Inspired Websites and 200+ “Woody” Resources

15 Must-see Architectural Design Photos

60+ Free Fonts for Big, Bold and Beautiful Headlines

Logo Design RoundUp Part 9 - How Designers Promote & Brand Themselves

Claire Morgan | Awesome Hanging Sculptures!

40 Free Calligraphy Fonts

Great Vintage Advertising and Propaganda

50 Awesome Twitter Profiles – Part 1

25 Totally Immersive Web Experiences

50+ Tools to Make You a Better, Faster, & More Collective Designer

34 Dark Websites

Free Typographic XHTML/CSS-Layouts For Your Designs

Design Your Own Icons – 25 Tutorials and Articles Designers MUST Have

The Ultimate Drupal Showcase

StumbleUpon FAQ, Guides, Tools, Addons And Scripts

20 great WordPress Footer Designs for Inspiration

80 Creative and Well-designed Logos

21 Mindblowing Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes

100 Thoughts on Marketing

4 Tips and 17 Examples for Spectacular Login

My Web Design Toolbox – 25 Tools

The Top 10 jQuery Lightbox Plugins

20 Promising Open Source PHP Content Management Systems

My Favorite Design Links & Inspiration from Last Week

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:40:21 +0000

20 Mindblowing Concept Laptop Designs

35 Amazing Paper Made Website Designs (I’m Included!)

22 Visually Inspiring Guitars

10 Super Creative Business Cards

30+ Inspirational Portfolio Designs for Web Designers

50 Totally Awesome Surf Photos

55 Really Creative And Unique Blog Design Showcase

50 Minimalist Design

Beautiful and Creative Origami Creations

66 (Really) Unusual Portfolio Designs

50 Beautiful Still Life Photographs

A Showcase of Super Clean Web Designs

25 Amazing Text Art Examples

30 WordPress Development Tutorials

40 Free High Quality Hand-drawn Fonts

328 Typography Resources for Better Communication

15 Best iPhone Applications for Web Designers

The 15 Creepiest Vintage Ads Of All Time

145 Ultimate Round-Up Of Photoshop Tutorials and Resources

14 More Content Management Systems other than WordPress

20+ WordPress Recipes (Codes)

Very Inspiring Posters

100+ Free WordPress Themes that Every Designer Should See

30 Exceptional Web Designs

16 Unveiled Logo Design Processes

45 Incredibly Useful Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires

53 Jquery Tutorials, Resources, Tips And Tricks: Ultimate Collection

12 Essential Rules to Follow When Designing a Logo

20 Mindblowing Laptop Concepts

17 Larger Than Life Giant Objects

My Favorite Design Links of the Week

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:20:43 +0000

My Favorite Design Links of the Week

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:52:51 +0000

7 Rich & Creative User Interfaces and How to Create Your Own

The Best Sources Of Logo Design Inspiration

A – Z Twitter Creative Elite to Follow (I’m included!)

My Favorite Design Links of the Week

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:05:14 +0000

25 Amazing Retro Web Sites for Your Inspiration

22 Mixed Quality WordPress Hacks

42+ Social Media Marketing Tools

35 Creative Paper Inspired Website Design (I’m included!)

Logo Inspiration With Clever Typography

60 Awesome Sites for Free Fonts

Showcase Of 50 Stunning Portfolio Website Designs

15 Creatively Cut Business Cards

50 Ways to Become a Better Designer

Nice Collection of Vintage Websites

15 Sites to Visit for Logo Inspiration

15 Coolest Minimalist WebDesigns Using Photograph as Background

Niche Showcase Galleries

The “Designers Rock” Twitter Uberlist (I’m included!)

88 Single Page Website Designs For Inspiration

13 Websites With Inspirational Typography

The Minimalist Guide To Making Minimalist Websites

100 Awesome Designers and Developers to Follow on Twitter

50+ Designers on Twitter

37 Beautiful Letterpress Business Cards

Retro Futurism At Its Best: Designs and Tutorials

The Best RSS Feeds for Designers and Developers from A to Z

Other little things that inspire me, such as quotes, photos, designs, and links, can be found at my tumblog: whatinspires.brandonacox.com.

23 Unique Sources of Creative Inspiration

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:02:14 +0000

I subscribe to a whole lot of feeds! In fact, I try to read feeds across a variety of disciplines aside from pastoral ministry and web/graphic design. This is because I don’t just value resources and links that give me some ready-to-apply technique or tool. I value a larger spectrum of creativity in art, music, decorating, etc. I wanted to pass along some of the blogs I keep track of that may seem to have little to do with my primary interests, but they help me to see how people think and relate and visualize things. I thought you might like them too…

For starters, you can always watch my Tumblog to see just about anything that inspires me, including videos, pictures, links, quotes, etc…

What Inspires Brandon A. Cox

Art, Decor, Inventions, Design in General, etc.

Blogging, Writing, Social Media, Communication

Phil Cooke and the Change Revolution

Church Crunch (also covers technology)

Pro Blogger

Copy Blogger

Six Minutes (speaking and communication)

Chris Brogan

Business, Leadership, and Marketing

Seth Godin (makes me think)

John Maxwell on Leadership

Other Great Blogs Featuring Inspiring Writing

There are more, I could go on. But these alone may prove to be sensory overload. Enjoy.

Thinking Through the Redesign of eGrace Creative

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:22:15 +0000

In case you hadn’t noticed or it’s your first time here, I just re-designed this site for about the fifth time in two years. I’m very happy with the outcome, though I’ll be making tweaks continually (a designer is never fully satisfied with his work, especially his own portfolio). It’s a different style than I’ve had before and I wanted to simply share a few brief thoughts about it.

First of all, I wanted a left-justified site. Why? I’m not really sure, but after looking at hundreds of portfolios, there was something about those that moved their site to the left of the browser that struck me as unique. Most sites on the web are centered, so in some small way it stands out from the crowd just a bit.

I also wanted to go slightly grungy, but not over the top. the torn paper and leather edging give this effect without alienating business clients. Leather in particular is comfortable to me. I carry a leather Bible, write in a leather journal, carry a leather wallet, have a leather couch in my office, and even my iphone has a leather cover. In other words, much of my life is wrapped in leather.

The dark right side exists because, though I like dark designs, I’m not quite comfortable with my own portfolio site being dark altogether. Using the sidebar in this way lets me play with the idea without a full commitment to it.

Two other significant changes relate to my own online habits. I’m learning increasingly more about design from my use of social media, so I used some very nice icons offered by Cheth Studios to highlight the networks most significant to me as a designer. I also wanted to change my homepage layout to allow me to do more blogging on the subject of design while retaining just two portfolio entries on the front page, one web project and one logo project.

I’m open to feedback and criticism. I may or may not agree, but you may represent a perspective I’d like to know about, and I’d like to learn and grow through your input. Thanks for reading. Oh, and I also redesigned my Twitter background to match.

Do Something that Matters

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:15:33 +0000

One of my favorite movie lines was uttered by Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor. His character, Capt. Rafe McCawley, travels to London before Hawaii was attaked so that he could fly with the British Royal Air Force. When he lands, his new commanding officer asks, “Why is it so many of you young Americans are so eager to die?” McCawley responds, “I’m not eager to die sir, I’m just eager to matter.”

That sums up my life. I’m eager to matter. I don’t care if I make much money. It doesn’t bother me if I’m never recognized by millions. I just want to matter… to God and to others. In order to matter, we need to do something that matters. We often sit passively waiting for something to occur that makes us matter when we really have more control here than we realize. We can do something that matters.

Here’s what I want to do…

I want to preach a sermon that matters. I’m a Pastor, so I want to preach a sermon that leaves someone with hope and a changed life.
I want to design something that matters – that catches someone’s attention and changes the course of their lives forever.
I want to write something that matters – my blog, and a book… soon.
I want to love the people who matter to me most – my wife, my daughter, my fellow servants.
I want to smile at a discouraged cashier.
I want to allow a depressed loved one to vent on my shoulder.
I want to fly around the world to shake the hand of an embattled Russian missionary again.
I want to pray. Prayer matters more than we imagine.
I want to speak to a larger audience about something that makes an eternal difference.
I want to give what I don’t really need anyway to gain what I can never lose.

What about you? What are you going to do that matters?

Secret: A Brand Is Not a Logo and a Logo Is Not A Brand

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:12:58 +0000

I see sites popping up all the time that offer logos for $99 or so, and they all promise to deliver a “brand.” They don’t know your company, they don’t understand your vision, but they are great with vector art. Their popularity reflects a terrible misunderstanding about branding and it is that a logo is not a brand and a brand is not a logo.

What is a brand? It’s a story. It compels people to listen and respond. Why is Target able to target a different shopper than Wal-Mart? Why do you keep buying the same potato chips, t-shirts, and deodorant? Because you’re familiar with the story of the product. Don’t misunderstand. You probably have no clue who runs the company or how large it is – and that’s not the story I’m talking about anyways. Here’s the scoop on the story…

Target sells nicer stuff in a nicer way.
Lay’s potato chips are better than the generic ones.
Kids’ cereals are chock-full of vitamins.
The latest exercise tape will give you tons of energy.
Nike thinks you’re a great athlete.

Are these true? We have no idea, but we often believe the story, so we listen and we buy. If you want a logo for $99 you’re sure to find a company that will churn one out for you, but don’t believe for a second that they are offering you a “brand.” What’s your story? Are you telling it well? The only way to answer that is to find out whether people believe it or not.

Seth Godin Hints About Web Design

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:04:37 +0000

Seth’s blog today mentions something that I try to articulate to clients all the time – there are web subcultures and you can’t sell to one if your site fits in another. I recently saw the site of a web design agency. The front page promoted them as a highly professional firm who wished to work only with highly professional people. It stated this on a little sign held up by a cartoonish guy! Clients choose service agencies that seem to match their own personality to at least some degree. So watch your site’s subculture.

If you’re selling to gamers, go dark and scary.
If you’re selling to a tech business, go metal.
If you’re selling to an art museum, be artsy.
If you’re selling to business firms, keep it soft.
Personal blog? Be highly expressive and personal.

You get the picture. Think with the brain of your ideal client. Would you hire you based on your site’s design?

Tips for Cutting Edge eCommerce

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:15:46 +0000

eCommerce is the technology that allows for the exchange of currency for goods and services online. If you don’t know about ecommerce already, welcome to the 1990′s! Since ecommerce makes money, it often costs money to set up… a lot of money! I wanted to weigh in with some advice for businesses that require, or at least are venturing into the world of ecommerce. I also wanted to suggest some intermediate solutions if you’re not quite ready for the plunge, as well as what I consider the best open source solutions for ecommerce.

eCommerce and Its Evolving Philosophy

As I’ve observed a ton of shopping cart-driven sites and have perused and experimented with various open source ecommerce platforms, I’ve become increasingly aware of the emphasis on the technology, the functionality required to make it all work effectively. Aesthetics have been secondary to feature sets. In other words, business have been able to sell online, but it normally doesn’t look good. It think that’s changing, and I think it’s a good thing.

As a matter of fact, I hope that the technology of ecommerce will soon evolve into an outright artform. I used to work in a Christian bookstore and we moved the entire store a few blocks down the street to a larger building. The manager and department leaders were arranging displays near the front of the store in the most random order. Order, in fact, was what was missing. Upon walking in the door, you were confronted with an obstacle course of knick-knacks, greeting cards, and gift items. The books that the bookstore sold were near the back.

Upon questioning the reasoning behind the odd arrangement, I learned a basic retail truth. You’re not in business simply to make products available and easy to find. You’re in business to invite customers into a shopping experience in which you sell them products they may not have been thinking about before walking in the door. So you make them weave their way through your best stuff on the way to the least profitable merchandise – the books.

The historic problem with ecommerce is that we’ve taken brick-and-mortar retail establishments and have simply added the functionality of selling online. That is, we’ve made products available for purchase online. This is an okay strategy when we’re first discovering new technologies, but in the long run, we need to be thinking more about how we’re going to invite online customers into a shopping experience in which we package, display, and sell a product they weren’t thinking of before logging on.

We’ve bought into the idea that price, availability, and shipping time and costs are the only factors that matter to online shoppers. But with the ever-merging worlds of online and brick-and-mortar trade, the same thinking patterns that affect purchasing decisions in the real world will affect buying on the world wide web as well. So how do we really sell online?

I want to state one simple point about ecommerce… design matters. That’s the revolution I think needs to take place. And I’m not simply referring to a nice graphical layout. Any web designer worth his salt understands that graphics and layout are only the introduction to field. We need to be thinking in terms of usability (how easy it is for a person to navigate), packaging (no awful and sometimes dangerous plastics are needed for display), accessibility, and definitely aesthetics.

So I’m making a case that an online store that looks good, markets itself well, and fights for good search engine rankings will compete successfully against online shops that are highly-functional but graphically behind the times. This is why I’d love to bite into a significantly sized ecommerce development project. (If you’re in need, contact me.)

Light to Intermediate eCommerce Solutions

If you’re not quite ready for a custom ecommerce solution, you can certainly try selling through eBay, Amazon, or another third-party goods handler. They can handle a variety of needs, from the exchange of funds to shipping and fulfillment. There’s also a great intermmediate solution in e-Junkie, which allows you to set up a great-looking and simple shopping cart in the environment of your own site.

There are also some great open source shopping cart scripts that allow you to have the functionality of a shopping cart, then add your own design. My favorite, so far, is Magento because of it’s awesome design and user interface. There is also OpenCart, ZenCart, and CReloaded, plus potentially thousands of others – these just happen to be some of the most popular.

None of these solutions offer a simple three-step process. eCommerce continues to be a difficult-to-manage technology. You must install a cart or program one yourself, design the user interface, learn the backend, and you’ll always be creating products, managing your inventory, shipping and handling, and scouring through sales reports and figures.

More stuff will be sold online as time goes on, but it’s not always the quick fix that people assume it is. The 1990′s taught us that harsh lesson with the dot-com boom/bust. We have a lot to learn and enless opportunities to explore!