Categories
Branding Graphic Design Website

5 Point Checklist for your Church’s Website

Your website is more important than ever in representing who you are as a church and attracting people to you.

Almost 100% of the families that joined us for the first time in 2016 say that they checked out our website before visiting.  Some found Life Church by searching on Google, others heard about us from another source but still checked us out online before visiting.

Here are some must-haves so your website can keep up in 2017 that ANY church can implement (these aren’t just for churches with full-time designers on staff).

Contact information on the home page above the fold

A big majority of people visiting your website are coming to find out how and when they can connect with you, like what time are your services, where are you located or an office phone number or email address.

‘Above the fold’ is a term that means that something appears on your screen without having to scroll.  With long-scrolling website styles, its tempting to make your home page REALLY long with more and more sections of content.  That’s fine if it’s done strategically, but keep your contact info available before someone has to scroll.

 

Represent yourselves accurately

If you haven’t yet read me an ebook about building trust.  Download it free here, and read the section about your website.  Since your website is digital, it’s WAY TOO EASY to misrepresent yourselves using stock photos and text descriptions.

My suggestion would be to use actual photos and video of your building, your services, your people and let the size and demographic speak for itself as much as possible.  Even if you hope to be something (ie. larger, more diverse, younger, older, etc.) give the impression that you welcome that diversity, but don’t give the impression that it exists.

If you need to use stock photography then be sure it still represents you accurately.

(here’s an article from Brady Shearer at Pro Church Tools with some alternatives to clipart and stock photography)

Reduce your load time

Believe it or not, websites haven’t gotten faster proportionate to our connection speeds – we just find more things we can now do in light of our connection speeds while our websites load, so keep in mind that just because high speed internet exists doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on what you’re putting on your site and how it will affect load time.

Keep your load time to under 4 seconds.  You can check with this free tool: tools.pingdom.com – It will tell you not only your load time from a secondary server, but will show each process and file that loads on your website and which are taking the most time.

Images: Reduce them to 100KB or less – full screen images I try and keep around 200 – 250KB.  When you export form photoshop, click “Save for web” and play with the quality and size until you get it right.  If you’re going to be using an image at 500px wide, then output the picture at 500px.  Resizing a larger image down to a smaller image requires your site to load larger files, then scale them all as part of your load time.

Video: As much as possible, host videos on YouTube or Vimeo and paste a frame or shortcode in your website.  This causes large video files to load on their server instead of loading on yours.

Audio: Same as video, when possible, host somewhere else.

 

Don’t just have a mobile website, have a responsive website

If your site isn’t mobile, stop here and get that fixed…A mobile site means that when someone loads your site on a mobile device, it loads unique content and layout just for that device (ie. the website says ‘hey, this is a cell phone. I’ll load the cell phone content that’s narrower).

Responsive means that you have a single site and the content automatically resizes itself based on the browser window (large or small browser window on a desktop / laptop, tablet, small phone, plus size phone, etc.)

When your church website is responsive,  it thinks ‘hey, this browser is 823 pixels wide, I’ll make the content match. The next browser window is 1834 pixels wide, and now the content will match that.)

With a growing number of devices, screen sizes and manufacturers, a responsive site has become a necessity (with the added perk that if you change information, it is that same info on every device – you don’t have to update both a desktop site and a mobile site)

The “responsive’ qualities of your website are usually built right into the template.  If you use WordPress, look for a responsive theme. If you’re stuck on your theme, but it’s not responsive, consider a mobile version of your site until you can replace it with a responsive theme that works.

 

Have a color scheme that’s not named “Rainbow”

Pick a background color, text color, heading color, and menu color – THAT’S IT! (and it’s okay if one of these is white).  When you add in accents like buttons or highlights or quotes, use one of the 4 colors already in your scheme.

If your website has even color in the rainbow, you’re not going to be viewed as credible – trust me.  Even if you had a committee approve your website, they all have smart phones that are 1 color with an accent color, use Facebook or twitter or instagram with really simple color schemes.  If you’re wanting to use more colors to create energy or excitement, try using colorful photos – people relate to faces better than a barrage of colors.

Need some color scheme inspiration? Try Coolors.co or if you’re looking for something premade, Google color schemes for websites.

 

Post your website link in the comments so we can check it out! (Business or church!)

 

 

Categories
Advertising Graphic Design Marketing

5 Ways To Use Digital Signage in Church Marketing

The term ‘digital signage’ is just a smart way of talking about the screens that are used to show content, from adverts in stores, through to weather and news in office lobbies. In churches, many are looking to invest in digital signage solutions that can be used to inform, entertain and share information.

You may already have a few screens around your church, but perhaps you’ve not been sure what to put on them. Or maybe you’re thinking of investing in new screens, in order to give your church a digital uplift.

Either way, it’s important to focus firstly on what they can do for your marketing.

Great marketing transmits the values of your brand and helps visitors to absorb them, often without them even realizing.

Tweet This:

Tweet: Great marketing transmits the values of your brand and helps visitors to absorb them, often without them even realizing. @mr_mcd on @therealcmi http://ctt.ec/TU74c+

 

 

ways-to-use-Church-digital-signage-

 

Here are five ways you can use digital signage within your church to aid and help share your marketing:

1. Showcase new campaigns

The reason most marketing campaigns lose velocity is because they don’t reach enough of an audience. When you create a new marketing campaign, it can be difficult to subtly drop it into a service, around the important notices, information and events that you need to discuss. This is where screens come in. Digital signage screens fill the gaps usually left redundant.

While visitors are waiting for a service they can read all about your new initiatives. As they leave, they can scan for the next event or session they want to attend.

2. Create community

Your church visitors are your biggest brand advocates. Chances are, they’re spreading the word through online communities even when you don’t know about it. Digital signage pulls together the voices of your community into one place. Through screens that show social media feeds such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or create rich social media dashboards. Social media helps your church extend its reach right outside of the doors and into the minds and homes of a much wider audience than physical activity alone.

Screens are a great way to show off your social channels, encourage more of your audience to use them and to create content in an invigorating display.

3. Tell stories

Church-Digital-Signage-Faith-Community-ChurchStories are often the foundation of marketing. They transmit a message in a more colorful way that can be appreciated by all audiences – old or young, male or female. Use digital signage to tell your stories.

A simple iPhone can now be used as a video recorder, helping you to film testimonials, clips and activities within your church to share on screen. Take images and upload them in a series to your social channels, documenting a project over a series of weeks.

Digital screens take snippets of your message and bookend them into one comprehensive story.

4. Set up advertising

Allow your patrons to advertize on your digital screens to share skills and news with other visitors. Use the screens for your own advertising, allowing you to promote new training sessions, services and your most creative campaigns. You can also add your logo to each slide or image advertising a service or incentive, allowing you to become more memorable in the minds of your visitors.

Advertising on screens is natural, having been used in television and now the internet across desktop and mobile too. This makes it a key channel from which you can work out your message and share it with your audience – who will be ready and waiting to pay attention.

5. Go digital

For churches who struggle to attract younger visitors, digitizing your offering helps to transmit information in a new format. Not everyone who visits your church wants to read lyrics from a print-out or scriptures from a book. For whatever reason (or even just the generational one) some will feel more comfortable accessing information on screen than they will in print.

The screens can be the first welcomer to a younger audience, allowing them to get a feel for your marketing and who you are without necessarily having to have human contact. Ideally, it’s people who make up your church, but letting the screens say hello first, in order to welcome and make younger audiences feel at ease, can help lead the way to new relationships.

(Post photos courtesy of Faith Community Bible Church & ScreenCloud – Thank you!)

 

Remember, these ideas are just a jumping point. Once you start you can incorporate feedback from your visitors to find out what works and what they want to see. Each church is different, but by working out a digital signage marketing strategy and going for it, you’ll be able to learn and reiterate quickly.

 

Mark-McDermottAbout the Author:

Mark McDermott is Co-Founder of Digital Product Studio Codegent whose passion is to build world-class digital products. Mark is also CEO of ScreenCloud and spends much of his time empowering individuals to get their underused screens full of beautiful digital content.

Contact Mark on hello@screen.cloud or on Twitter @mr_mcd

 

 

 

Categories
Graphic Design Tools

5 ways to get over your creative block

We’ve all had those moments when we have a creative block.  You know there’s a graphic to create, a bulletin to design, a website layout just waiting to jump off the screen, but at the moment, you’re having a creative block.

It’s really easy at that moment to give up or give in to a distraction (did you know Amazon has daily deals in every department every day?).

Here are 5 ideas to get you past your creative block.  This is by no means an inclusive list, so comment at the bottom with what you’ve found working to turn your creative rut into a creative groove.

1. Change Your Surroundings

Go for a walk, go grab a coffee, work standing up or laying down (yes, I really do this). Go work at a coffee shop, or find a comfortable chair at the library.  Sit in someone else’s office (preferably if they’re not also in their office) or take a chair outside.

2. Try something understated

Whether you’re writing, designing a graphic, creating a video or just brainstorming, what’s the simplest way you could make this happen?  What if you removed all of your graphic elements except one, write about only 1 idea, storyline or character, or use only 1 camera angle.  The final product doesn’t have to be understated, but this could help your creativity get focussed on the project.

3. Bring in another person

The “first-reaction” method.  Hold your project in front of them, read a paragraph or ask for help on an idea.  “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see / hear / read / watch this?” Use that to gauge if you’re on target, and ask them what they think is coming next.

4. Scrap It

What would the project look like if you throw out everything you have and start blank? What it the one message you want to get across, and how can that be the focus?  Maybe it’s time to work on something else, set a timer and come back to this.

5. Change your medium

If you’re stuck on writing a blog post, make it a video. If you’re stuck writing a script, draw out a storyboard. If you’re stuck on making a video, make a teaser with snapchat, or instagram. If you are working on your computer, grab a pen and paper or if you’re working on a graphic, try writing out what impact you want the graphic to have, or record yourself describing it and listen back to it.

 

This is not an all-inclusive list, but some ideas to get you out of your creative rut.  What would you add to the list that has worked well for you?

 

 

 

Categories
Graphic Design Marketing Social Media

40 Ideas to Repurpose Your Church’s Content

It’s an incredible world we live in where we can create digital content to be shared, re-shared, and used in multiple ways. In a moment’s notice, a message can spread.  It’s a two-edged sword we’ve created for ourselves because a request that used to take a meeting or a phone call can now be instantly in your pocket, and our schedules are filling up with clutter, potential distractions and efficiency tools.  Knowing how and when to use these tools to your advantage can be a big help in spreading your message and using your marketing to move your church forward.

Here are a few ideas to repurpose created content with very little effort.

Repurposing Recorded audio from start to finish:

If you record a podcast through the week separate from your service like an interview with your Pastor, team conversations or testimonies, or a radio or TV show for a local station, here are some ideas.  (These won’t work as well in the context of recording multiple takes or pieces of audio that will be assembled later like studio music.  See the next area section for ideas.)

  • Stream the video live via Periscope or Facebook live while you’re recording.  Equipment doesn’t have to be any more than an iPad or iPhone on a stand.
  • Take some still shots while you’re recording and put them on instagram to point to your periscope feed or promote your podcast.
  • Take 4 or 5 photos for Facebook as a promotional tool for you podcast.
  • Record the video (not just stream) and post it on Facebook later or upload to YouTube (the second largest search engine after Google) or vimeo to create a library of content.
  • Chop down the video into segments.  If the interview is multiple questions, make each question isn’t own video and roll out the shorter clips on Social media through the week, or posted to youtube with the question as the title so people can see that question even if they aren’t looking for the rest of the interview content.  60 second clips can go on Instagram.
  • Snapchat portions of the interview – either video or images. This will take some practise since you have a set time frame for video and you’ll want to catch a complete ‘thought’ in that video.

 

Repurpose pieces of audio that will be assembled later:

  • Record video to be used later like a how-to video for mic-ing a drum kit, or setting up a mix, or how to play a certain song on guitar.
  • Stream it (It’s like a behind the scenes video, even if it’s start and stop with multiple takes.) on periscope or Facebook live.
  • Take Snaps on snapchat or instagram.

 

Repurposing Series / Message Graphics:

With very little effort, these graphics that are already on your task list are easily modified and repurposed.  Consider using your series graphic for:

  • Facebook cover photo
  • Twitter header
  • Add a colored overlay and add a quote from the message on top.
  • Copy and paste the scriptures your pastor will use and put them on an overlay of your series graphic.  Use these during the message on the screen, then one a day on Social Media next week.
  • Add the image to your bulletin for “Our Current Series”.
  • Have a road sign printed with your graphic.
  • Print a poster of your message graphic to hang in the entrance / foyer / atrium about the current series.
  • Make your series graphic the background for your digital signage.
  • Print them on a business card as an invite for your people to hand out. Include service times and website on the back.
  • Use it in your email newsletter as a reminder to come back next week to hear the next part in the series.

 

Repurposing this Sunday’s service:

Maybe you already stream online or record the service for a podcast.  Here are some other ideas for repurposing that content that you’re already creating:

  • Have a volunteer who can write turn their notes from the message into blog post for your website.
  • Stream live on Periscope or Facebook Live.
  • Take 60 second videos for Instagram (this can be tough live… You may not know when to start recording in order to get a clip that will be 60 seconds and a complete thought. It’s worth a try to record clips and then decide if they’re instagram worthy).
  • Add a hashtag and your twitter handle to your message graphics so people can tweet you with what they’re hearing.  They generate the content for you to share at a later time.
  • Browse your friends on Facebook who are at your church.  If they post something about the message on Facebook, take a screenshot and post it on your Facebook page. Thank them for their comment.
  • Depending on the audio quality, take a song from your worship set and post it to youtube.
  • Take a clip of your opening or closing prayer. Post it on instagram, Facebook, twitter.
  • Take a clip from the message (Maybe a story or where your Pastor is explaining a scripture, or possibly the introduction to the message) to post across your social channels.  If it’s a stand alone thought, add it to your YouTube channel.
  • Post your service bumper on Facebook next weekend and invite people to join you again on the weekend.
  • Take pictures of your Pastor and text for a quote from the message.
  • Take pictures of your worship team and overlay song lyrics from the chorus of the most popular song this week.

 

Repurposing Print Material:

FreebieAlmost everything that ends in print starts as digital.  Use that digital file to your advantage.

  • If you’re designing business cards, use a template like this to mockup the design and post it on Social Media
  • Doing more than one redesign at a time? Use a photoshop template like this to show people what’s going on.
  • If the design is for youth, post it to instagram, or take a snap and add it to your story as it’s coming off the printer or being cut.
  • If it’s for your kids department, post it to instagram or Facebook where the parents will likely see it.

If it’s a print piece for an event, mock it up and use it as a reminder for the event the day before in your email newsletter or Facebook event or just generally on social media.

 

Repurposing Video Announcements (or announcements recorded by video):

  • Upload the video to YouTube.  If someone is searching for your church and finds a past announcement, they’ll realize that it’s not current, but it will still give them an idea for the kinds of activities your church participates in.
  • Include a link in your email newsletter with a screen shot from your announcement.  When someone clicks, it could go to the youtube page or a page on your website where the video is loaded.
  • Add it to Vimeo with different keywords from Youtube.  Same idea as above, but a different venue.
  • Add a channel plugin to your website so that once you upload your announcements to Youtube or Vimeo, they automatically appear in your footer or on a page on your website.
  • Upload the video to Facebook (don’t just post the youtube link.. actually, upload the video to your Facebook post.  This way, when someone scrolls over the video, it will automatically start playing rather than having to click it to play like a youtube link. In the description, add in a link to where they can sign up for the events in the video.
  • Chop your announcement video down into individual announcements.  Post one a day on different Social Channels with the link to register for each event.
  • While you’re recording your announcements, stream them live.

 

What have you found that you can repurpose easily?  What has worked for your church?

 

 

Categories
Branding Graphic Design Social Media

How to create a broken Text Box effect in Photoshop

Start with a background image and place your text (I used Gill Sans for words and Gloucester for the 1):

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.58.23

Create a new layer and using the selection tool, create a box approximately the height of your image spacing and fill it with a color. I like to use a color that has nothing to do with the image so I can clearly see where that shape is.  Size and position doesn’t have to be exact – it can be adjusted later:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.58.57

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.59.03

Double click the layer where the box is to open the “Layer Style” options.  Check “Stroke” in the left column to put a line around the entire selection.

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.59.13

 

In the “Stroke’ dialog, adjust the size (in this case I used 5 pixels) and the color field at the bottom.  I changed mine to white:Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.59.39

 

Now your colored box will have a 5pox white stroke around the outside.  Close the  “Layer Style” box by clicking OK:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.59.44

 

To remove the blue fill from the box, select the layer, and reduce the fill percentage from “100%” to “0%”:

 

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.59.56

 

This is what your image will look like:

 

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.00.05

 

Next, we have to convert that layer style to an editable shape (If you just take an eraser and erase a portion of the line, you’re actually just changing the shape of the 0% blue box, and the stoke will appear around the perimeter of whatever you erase.).

Right click the layer and choose “Rasterize Layer Style”:

 

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.00.40

 

This will now make your layer just that outline without the blue box:

 

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.00.46

Select all of the layers including your background image and use the “Center Align” button at the top of the window to align all of your text and your box centered with the canvas:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.00.18

Now that everything is aligned, create a selection box around the text, then select your box layer and delete.  It will delete the portion of the line that you’ve selected leaving only the words ands what looks like a break in the line:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.01.01

Repeat for other text in the image – it also is cool if you have a word across the middle of the screen and it breaks the border on either side:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.01.40

Brand your image before posting on Social Media:

Screenshot 2016-03-28 17.03.07

 

This effect can also be used to generate some pretty cool quotes from your Pastor or guest speaker for the weekend like this:

Grace-and-Faith

Click here to see how that effect works.

 

 

 

Categories
Graphic Design

Framing a Message Quote in a Picture

Grace-and-FaithI like to take quotes from the weekend’s message and use them on Social Media.  It’s pretty easy to pull these quotes out if you’re listening to what quotes people respond to or tweet themselves.  I have the opportunity to tweet on behalf of Life Church during service, so I’ll use this   Images get much more engagement than a text quote, so I like to find images that reference the content of the quote, or an actual image from that person to use with the quote.

More than just including some text on an image, I like to ‘build’ or ‘integrate’ the text with the image and one of my favorite ways to make that connection is to have the subject overlap the text, so it looks like they’re connected.

Here’s how I built the image on the right in photoshop.

Before you start, pick your quote and your image.  You can change either of these as we go, but it’ll be easier to develop a design if you’re committed to including those concepts.

I started with a picture I had on file of Pastor Ryan and decided I wanted to use the image on instagram. Since instagram only allows for square images, I created a new photoshop file 500px by 500px.

 

Then I made a text box to decide where I was going to position the quote and made “Grace” and “Faith” larger for emphasis.  After the text was in place, to make the outline, I used the rectangle selection tool and made a rectangle around the text:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.39.46

 

I filled in the selection on a new layer with a color:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.40.44

And added a layer style by double clicking the layer in the layer pane. I added a ‘stroke’ in this case 8px / Position: Outside / Blend Mode: Normal / Opacity 100% and the fill color I used was the same as the font:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.41.23

 

Selecting that layer, I took the fill down to 0% – this leaves the stroke, but removes the bright blue filler I had used.

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.41.33

 

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.42.08

 

So now the image with the picture layer turned on looks like this:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.42.56

 

In order to edit a portion of the ‘stroke’ layer, I had to rasterize the stroke layer so it’s editable:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 17.25.30

Using the lasso selection tool, I selected the area where the quote box was over Pastor Ryan’s arm:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.43.35

and delete that portion from the rasterized stroke layer.  It will then look like the text frame is behind his arm:

Screenshot 2015-10-27 15.43.44

 

You can do this with text as well, not just shapes or lines, but you’ll need to rasterize the text (turn the text into a shape) which means you won’t be able edit the text after it’s rasterized.

Categories
Advertising Graphic Design

Maximizing Digital Signage at Church

It’s not out of the ordinary to have projector screens & LCD or Plasma TVs in your auditorium or through your church building, but many churches miss the opportunity to capitalize on the reach that these screens have.  For instance, we have screens in our auditorium for lyrics and scriptures during service. Before service, we use them as a 20 minute countdown to service starting.  During that 20 minute countdown, we have various screens on a 7-second rotation.  They include silencing your phone before service, moving backgrounds with our logo, follow along with us and download the YouVersion Bible App, and our monthly new-membership dinner.

HorseshoeWe also have 4 LCDs in the foyer.  2 that duplicate the countdown happening in the auditorium, 1 that’s designated for kids check in, and 1 that’s designated for our Horseshoe information center (we call it the horseshoe because… well, it’s shaped like a horseshoe.  Also, during service, when we say “Sign Up At The Horseshoe in the foyer,” just about every new visitor can figure out where that is any why it’s called that.)

For the Horseshoe TV specifically, we like to change up that image every week, but not have it rotate – just static.  It’s a single image that either tells what’s happening this week at Life Church, or it’s information about what you can do at the horseshoe (sign up for an event on the iPads, order a CD or DVD of this week’s service, etc.)

When we have a specific registration focus, the Horseshoe TV will say “Register for Life Groups (our small groups) here!”

If we have a training session during the week or on a Saturday, I’ll put the name of the session and the room where it’s being held.  I also include arrows to point the way.  We do have signage in the building, but I’m a fan of strategic redundancy.

I like to use unsplash.com images for the background of the horseshoe TV.  They’re colorful and high resolution, so I can use just a portion of the image if that’s what suits best.  In this case for design, I’m looking to maximize contrast (so it can be read across the foyer even with all the lights on) and maximize font size.  I also like to include our ‘L’ icon in some way if it doesn’t detract from the design.

Here are a few of the horseshoe designs we’ve used, and at the bottom you’ll find the layered photoshop files that you can use.  Our horseshoe TV is 1080p widescreen (1920×1080 px) and your photoshop file should be RGB color because it’s going to be shown on a screen (rather than CMYK if it’s going to be printed.)  We run ours from a USB stick that slides in the back – the only cable running to that TV is for power.

In the future, we may get an Apple TV so we can remotely change the image, or series of images, but until now, that hasn’t been necessary.

PSD Files:

Horseshoe TV Buy DVDs

This Week at Life Church Horseshoe TV

Hospitality HorseShoe Screen

This week at Life Church

 

 

Categories
Graphic Design Tools

Photo Resources for Design

Photo choices can make or break your design.  The right photo can convey your message perfectly.  The wrong photo can distract or confuse the person looking at your image.  It can be tempting to just Google an image and pick something from the search results, but there are photographers that use the sale of stock photography to make a living.  It’s not only unethical to use photography that’s meant be sold, but it can land you in a copyright infringement situation with that photographer or their representatives. Plain and simple: Don’t do it!

Thankfully, there are a few economical and a few free photography sites to make sure you’re getting the best quality image you need and doing it properly, both legally and in respect to the photographer.  Here are a few great options that I’ve used myself. (Please be sure to read each resource’s terms of use policy.  They vary from site to site and I’m not able to articulate all of each’s details here.)

Paid Stock Photography: BigStockPhoto.com

Screenshot 2015-10-21 23.52.24This library has 28 million photos, videos and vector images.  I have ‘almost’ always can find what I’m looking for or get the inspiration I’m looking for.  The only time I can’t find what I’m looking for out of 28 million pieces is when I have something REALLY specific in mind, and often then I can find 2 or 3 images that I need and can compile what I’m looking for.

BigStockPhoto.com offers free photos from their library every once in a while, and are currently offering a 70 image / 14-day trial.  Click here to try them out and get some free photos for 14 days. (plus we get a nice ‘thank you’ from Big Stock if you try them out for free.)

Free Photos: Unsplash.com

Unsplash.com is free, do whatever you’d like with the photography.  In their own words:

All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash.

Photo by:  Stefanus Martanto Setyo HusodoI would recommend you subscribe to their email newsletter and get 10 new images every 10 days, or search on their website for the images you’re looking for.  Unsplash contributors have some common threads like landscapes and workspace images that give a hipster feel.

Whether the image is intended to be featured or intended as a background image for everything from conference posters to website backgrounds, Unsplash.com is my go-to.

 

Have a Stock Photography resource that you love? Share it in the comments below!

Categories
Graphic Design

Using Service Images as Backgrounds

There’s something to be said for familiarity.

When people see something they recognize, there is less processing or consideration or trust needing to be built.  Recently I was asked to create a presentation that was time constrained and included a shift in focus.  To instantly build a trust connection, I used an image that I took with my iPhone at a recent service:

 

Service-Shot

 

My opening slide was simply this picture with our logo imposed – just 2 layers in photoshop.  In this case, our Life Church logo is already familiar to the people I was presenting to.  This is 2 layers to familiarity:

 

Slide-01

Since this was the opening slide to my presentation, I went in ahead of my presentation, and put this slide on the screen so that when my presentation began, the people in the room had already ‘lived’ with this image for a few minutes.

 

From there, I moved onto introducing my topic and how we are going to talk about an opportunity for a cultural shift.  I took the same image, added a 10px Gaussian Blur in Photoshop (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur…) then added a text layer (Myriad Semibold).  Playing off of the already established familiar image meant that we could cut straight to the heart of the topic:

 

Slide-02