1. Utilizing your Internal Creative Team
You may be inclined to let your internal creative team take a stab at a new brand identity, but church creatives are very rarely brand identity experts and many times designers within your organization struggle with being too close to the project. Before founding The Honest Pixel, I was on a creative team of a large multi-site church for 12 years and I designed a grand total of 1 official logo (for our student ministry) and a handful of marks for short-term usage like conferences or camps. Great graphic designers aren’t necessarily experts on the strategy needed to craft an authentic and versatile brand identity that can stand the test of time. Hire an expert who’s portfolio is full of logos you absolutely love. This is a one-time expenditure that’s worth getting right!
2. Forgoing in-depth Brand Discovery
Now that you’ve hired a talented, creative, strategic brand designer, trust them to walk you through their tried and true brand discovery process. If your designer doesn’t include this step, it may be a sign that they don’t have the necessary experience for a significant rebrand. Or, it could mean that your budget is much lower than it needs to be, so your designer is trying to create a scope that’s realistic within the budget. Appropriate brand discovery requires a time investment. The most important advice I have for churches during this step is to be authentic, honest and vulnerable about who you are as a church body right now, today (not next year and not 5 years ago). It’s okay to be slightly aspirational in recognizing the trajectory of the church, but make sure you’re not just representing the church you hope to be. A really experienced logo designer is going to be able to craft a visual identity that captures the essence of who you are, allowing your unique mission and purpose to shine bright.
3. Including the wrong voice(s) in the process
A key factor in communicating authentically about the core features of your church’s identity is inviting the right voices into the room. It’s important to establish a hierarchy of 1 or 2 final decision-makers (too many equal votes tend to water down creativity). After that, identify 2-5 additional staff members or elders to be included in limited feedback who have their finger on the pulse of the church. The staff members who’ve been around the longest and have deep relationships within the church community can offer great insight. Make sure there’s much diversity in the room (age, race, life stage, ministry age group they lead). It’s also helpful if these key voices have good taste when it comes to aesthetics and visual communication.
PRO TIP:
Go a step further by giving each of these invitees a hoop to jump through to test their buy-in and passion for the rebrand. If your designer can give you a simplified brand discovery worksheet, have your staff invitees spend 10 minutes filling that out and return it to you by a given deadline. If they complete the step, you’ll know they have an appreciation for the process and its potential impact. If they don’t complete the worksheet, that might be a sign they don’t see the deeper purpose behind the project, which will make them unhelpful in collaborating on your new brand identity. Don’t invite them to be part of meetings or share their feedback.