Branding is the visual representation of your church’s identity. When branding is focused enough, it becomes a character of its own. McDonalds’ golden arches are a prime example of this.
If you do not have laser-focused church branding, your church will not have a familiar face like McDonald’s. If your church branding isn’t locked down, you’ll do what most churches do: create an array of different designs and publications that, together, say nothing about you.
Many churches and church leaders get bored with the same messaging and similar graphic design. About the time you feel as though you are getting bored with it is the time you need to recommit to it, because people might be starting to get it.
Unity in your branding communicates unity in your church. Purpose in your branding communicates purpose in your church. Consistency in your branding communicates consistency in your church.
Branding does not have to complicated, and it does not have to intimidate you.
THE 3 BASIC ELEMENTS OF CHURCH BRANDING
- COLOR: The first basic element of church branding is establishing your church’s color scheme. Choose one color that will be your main emphasis. For McDonald’s it is red. For the accent colors, choose colors that are different from your main color. Choose colors that are brighter and bolder — ones that stands out. Use these accent colors when you need to direct people’s eyes to something important, like an event time or an important headline.
- LOGOS: Once you have your colors, you can start developing your logos. You should have a couple of variations of your main logo. In McDonalds’ case, sometimes they use the golden arches by themselves, and sometimes they use them in conjunction with the full McDonalds name.
- FONTS: The final basic element of church branding consists of fonts. You do not have to go crazy on this and buy an expensive font family. Fonts are a great way to express your personality. If you’re a younger church, you might use some of the trendier fonts. But don’t feel like you have to. Whatever you choose, just remember to stay consistent – that is the key.
Adapted from Brady Shearer’s article “The 3 Basic Elements of Church Branding”