Comments on: The Value of Good Design

By: karl

karl — Sat, 15 May 2010 20:30:27 +0000

speaking of design this place looks great!

By: Marija

Marija — Fri, 14 May 2010 02:51:38 +0000

I think you did a great job forming a history of your craft and showing how it relates to the current world. I like how you show the opposing view point that media can be bad and that you address it. You give a practical and effective way to use media/graphic design within the church, “What’s important to a church body and the hearts of their leadership will be reflected in everything they create, from the stage to the flyers handed out at work. The capital campaign brochure shown earlier is made up entirely of community photography, and quotes from people who will actually be handling the money.” Great job on your essay. The only improvement would be to break up the paragraphs as it will make it easier to read. Nice job.

By: Kyhl

Kyhl — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:27:53 +0000

“My belief and message to you, church members and leaders, is that due to their wide variety of uses and universal accessibility print media and graphic arts are an effective way of engaging seekers and believers alike for the church’s mission.” Are you saying that print/design can be used to usher a community in any direction the provider chooses? That is a bold claim, and if so, how does the church remain accountable for their publications?

You address later that it is to be used with caution, “The effectiveness of design as a means of advancing the message is hard to quantify, and even harder to control, but done responsibly and intentionally, with those worries in mind, design can be one an effective tool in ministry.
The state of church design is encouraging, but has need to improve and room to grow.” How is this seen?

All that being said, I loved your essay. I think you faithfully present an argument for the form of media that you are passionate about, and you integrated your passion for it into your paper through the layout. I’m excited to see your creation; good job!

By: Boman

Boman — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:44:27 +0000

I just love the way you made the connections from your introduction to the content of your paper. as mention, graphic design rooted in history (art). Do you want to write more about the impact graphic design have, it influence and some significance changes you have seen today. if you have some good exmples of those changes, what what the church should expect.

By: Colton

Colton — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:59:22 +0000

I think you do a really good job of explaining to your readers that even though they might not know it, graphic design is an inescapable presence in their lives. I’m sure there are church-going Christians out there who recognize that advertisers are “selling” them something by television commercials and billboard, but these same people stop thinking about these things once they are in the safety of their churches. Graphic design is just as prevalent in the Christian realm, and you highlight this well.
I like your line, “Professional design is an outward display of inward conviction and dedication to a cause we really believe in.” This statement is a really good way to get someone to think of their intentionality, which is hugely important and often overlooked. I think that too often we in the church are so thrilled to find someone with the technical ability that we immediately jump on that and don’t put enough thought into the message behind the images. Great examples too, it was fun to see those.

By: krrl!

krrl! — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:51:49 +0000

geez thanks you guys! I really had no idea what the response would be and now i’m all red in the face. To Jake I should probably mention I got a lot of ideas from your paper, but hopefully added enough of my own insight to get credit To Bailey, yes grammers are not my best strongest point. Nor is speliing, that’ll have to be phase two To Zach, our papers mesh really well i think, i hope it didnt come across as clashing viewpoints, in fact the only thing i mention about your paper is that you’re correct. My apologies. To Sam, yeah that’s something that always has to be in the front of a church leaders mind, but for now my paper’s just about doing something that has to be done, in a more glorifying way, not a manifesto for effective church workings.

And to the rest of you, thanks a lot for the responses

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:06:39 +0000

Great insight while providing clear leadership through the important decisions church leaders face…I second everything in the above comments.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:28:21 +0000

Karl, I think that it is interesting how our papers sort of butt heads but in the end I truly believe they come together. My only challenge to your paper would be that, as Christians it seems that we are doing a great job of attempting to draw people in and use all the avenues possible to do that. However, my fear is that it stops there. We use visual and graphic design to get a wow factor if you will but the spiritual nourishment stops there, or should I say does not even begin. If these tools are used to compliment the Bible, not replace it, and are truly aiding in feeding the soul, then I have no problem with these uses of art God has given us. All in all, great paper with great claims and historical background info.

By: Zachary

Zachary — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:47:54 +0000

I agree with your paper Karl, although I feel like you almost try to make it seem like my paper disagrees with yours in your reference of mine, but that is fine. I would like you to expound on the idea behind “the varying degrees of success” in churches like Kensington and Park, what do you think are the positives and negatives that they have done? Also what do you think the media department should look like. You refer to churches as institutions and do not shy away from the analogy of a church being a business, do you agree with my model of church being primarily volunteer based, or do you think that there needs to be a broad paid media department like a business?

By: Haley

Haley — Tue, 11 May 2010 07:24:59 +0000

I love the fact that you start out with a historical background in this paper and then correlate it to present-day art such as graphic design. This showed that there is a lot of history that backs up your claims.

My favorite line in your paper was, “In some ways, the goal of an evangalist isn’t to different from marketing a product, or campaining for a cause.” I think there is a lot of truth in this statement. Christians are afraid to admit it because it sounds almost shallow. But as you showed in your paper, we are called to get a message out in a responsible way. Good concept.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:23:24 +0000

“We can have the greatest message in the world and understand it to the nth degree but if we can’t understand and respond to the world we live in, our message means nothing.” This was great. I also liked that you pointed out that design in churches can be done well and effectively, and also badly. This is a great resource for any church working to move forward and reach people outside the Church by any means necessary. There are quite a lot of typos in the essay. Maybe look over it, or give it to someone correct the little things. If you want, I’d be happy to do it. I think you have a really strong paper.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 08 May 2010 02:14:19 +0000

I think that was a really responsible way to approach design within the church. Your emphasis on excellence, while still desiring to keep authenticity and communal relevancy is refreshing. the graphics in the paper were also a nice touch. I especially liked how you pointed out that churches are going to have to make design decisions whether they call it that or not. Your critique will be helpful to expanding church leader’s definition of design, as well as help them recognize the importance of it within a local body; not for the purpose of bringing attention to the designer, but in accurately communicating the excellence of God.

By: Faith

Faith — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:43:21 +0000

The graphics look great, and I am looking forward to seeing the final creation! This statement is insightful, “For many, print materials and web presence are the only glimpses of the church they’ll ever see so it’s imperative that [the] glimpse is both glorifying to the God and authentic to ourselves as a community.” Your paper will be helpful for church leaders considering hiring a paid graphic designer. They may have never realized that design which is excellent and unique may, as you said, cause skeptics to give the church a second look! God will certainly be glorified in this pursuit of “excellence, clarity, and community.”