I was recently asked to look at a logo and give my opinion on whether or not it was a winner or not. To be honest, I really liked the logo from an aesthetic point of view. Initially, there wasn’t anything I would’ve changed. However, I began to consider the technical design of the logo and decided it needed help. The follow screen shots are what I did to improve it.

As you can see below, the logo definitely had too much going on. There are literally two icons. The name “Vive” uses a difficult font to read and it has the feel of a menorah. This competes too much with the main icon to the left.

Lesson: use one icon and be sure you can read the name of the company or organization.

So, here’s what I did to improve the logo’s functionality and design. I really liked the icon, so I didn’t touch it. However, I did attack the name. First, the name of the church is “The Vibe”. The original logo didn’t have the correct name of the church, it just read “Vive” and you really couldn’t read it clearly. It looks like “UIVE”. So, I took the letters “y”, “i” and “e” from the tagline and created the word “vive”. I borrowed the slanted “dot” from the “i” in the original logo and then added “the” over the first “v”.  This obviously simplified the logo but kept the creativity of the original.

The final logo is below. By changing the font for the name of the church, I was also able to create an alternative logo to use for the web address. To see the logo in action, you can visit The Vive website here.

I hope you like what I did for this logo. If you need any logo work or graphic design work done, please contact me at 817.727.5527.

Comment on this post here.

JF

You probably think WordPress is just a blogging platform. It’s so much more. WordPress is fully customizable and user friendly. You can make just about any website you have in mind: blog, portfolio, gallery, e-store, etc.

If you’re thinking about designing a new web site or shopping around for the best deal. Stop right here. The WordPress software is FREE and can be the best tool you have ever used with some help from a graphic designer and someone who know a little bit about WordPress.

Still not convinced?

Here are some reasons you need to consider WordPress and Paradigm Creative for your next web site:

1. WordPress is FREE. WordPress is basically a content-management system that you can use to update your web site in real time with graphics and content.
2. Themes. WordPress can be designed with 100% custom graphics. This means that you don’t have to sacrifice design for a good content manager.
3. Fresh content! WordPress makes it easy for any authorized user to update or add new content to your web site.
4. WordPress is now a web site and blogging software. There is NO NEED to have two separate site for your web site and blog. In fact, you can set up as many blogs and content contributors as you want.
5. Don’t pay for a CMS web site. When you don’t have to pay for CMS programming it means you can spend your budget on the graphic design and layout.

Need some examples?

Here some examples of web sites using WordPress as their main web site and content management system.

Next Steps

So, how do you get started? Here’s what you need to know:

1. Paradigm Creative can install and customize your WordPress web site all in about a week’s timeframe. We also provide hosting for $60 per year.
2. Cost to customize your site with graphics and layout vary so you’ll have to call me for a quote. However, it will be the most inexpensive, most powerful website you’ve ever had thanks to WordPress.
3. Contact Jeff Flowers today at 817.727.5527 to talk about your web site plans to see if WordPress makes sense to use.

I hope this helps to convince you to never pay $1000 for a theme website that you need help with anyway. I hope this helps to convince you that you can have a powerful CMS and a great looking site at the same time.  Below is an email I got from a client that chose WordPress for her website. You can check it out here.

So glad you setup Wordpress!!  Figured out how to link…changed the webcast post to include parts 1 & 2 of the COP ustream footage…until we can get a formal video edit to post.  Threw up a few pictures quickly in the media section.  Uploaded the listening guide.  Didn’t make the decision to do this till late at night, so did in a hurry… but just wanted you to know how grateful I am that you chose WordPress.  It’s very cool to get stuff up right away!! - Natalie Nichols

So, before you start shopping around for your next web site design, please consider letting Paradigm Creative create a customized WordPress web site for you. In fact, I don’t think I personally will ever design another web site that isn’t a WordPress CMS site. I’m that convinced this is the way to go.

JF

We are right in the middle of conference season. A lot of us are all loading up, spending money and traveling to spend a few days at the feet of the experts. In fact, this is as good as it gets. These are the innovators, these are the voices, these are the generation of pastors and church leaders that are getting it done. And we all have great hopes that we will sharpen the skills we already possess and maybe, just maybe, we’ll take home something new.  One thing is for sure, when we leave we’ll be motivated and excited to get back home and be successful.

While I believe all leaders should better themselves and conferences are a good way to do it, I want to make a distinction between learning from the experts and becoming one yourself.  I know too many leaders who are sponges. We soak up all we can and feel full and ready to be used. Sadly, most of us don’t know when, how or where to squeeze and make it a reality.

Most of us will be motivated just enough to implement some of the things we learn. Unfortunately, we usually don’t know enough about our own context to implement the principles we’ve learned. I guarantee you, what makes the people we hear from at the conferences experts is that they are experts on their local contexts first, not leadership principles. They know their environment, social climate, demographics and cultural challenges like the backs of their hands. It’s what drives innovation, best practices and change. And that’s why they are experts at what they do.

So, my challenge to you today is to become an expert on your local context first, then apply all of the leadership principles you know second. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to see if you’re an expert.

• Can we articulate the cultural relevancies in our local context?
• How can we influence the current trends in our context?
• Can we articulate specifics about our context’s demographics and are we meeting the challenges this environment creates?
• Can we articulate the values of people in our local context?
• Can we articulate the social concerns in our local context?
• Are we spending time every month on a relevant topic?
• Are we studying these topics every day for 30 minutes or more?
• Can we find a seminar or conference on something to do with our local context?
• Is there an article or story we can share to educate us on our local context?
• What kind of investment are we making in terms of time, money and effort into knowing our local context?

Share these questions with your staff or leadership team. Who knows, maybe next year we’ll all be listening to you, the expert.

I usually read 1 or 2 books on creativity a month. This month I’m reading The Disney Way by Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson. I’ve always been fascinated with Walt Disney, I guess its the artist in me.  One of the legendary stories in the book is about Walt’s obsession with excellence.

The story goes that Walt halted the production of Pinocchio because the film was failing to live up to Walt’s principle of excellence. With over half a million dollars spent already and final drawings of the characters done, Disney scrapped the production because the characters were not life-like enough. At the time, Disney had already enjoyed world-wide acclaim. He could have let the film go as it was and and saved money without tarnishing his reputation. But, the book says,

“Disney recognized the difference between adequate and excellent, and he would not compromise.”

Before the film was complete, Disney spent over $3 million, more than any other animated picture up to that point. In a correspondence to his brother Roy, he wrote that he was acutely aware of the bottom line, but refused to let it dictate every decision he made. And we should be glad. If he did not go back to the drawing board, or if he relied on his past successes, we would not have the timeless characters of Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket, arguably the most recognizable and beloved Disney characters of all time.

So, let me ask you. How many times have you settled for adequate and not excellent? I think there are a lot of leaders and organizations who are so used to success that they run the risk of adequacy. They are tempted into deviating from their values of excellence because they know they can get by with it.

Now, let me make a disctinction. I’m not talking about inadequacy. Inadequacy is failure, I’m talking about something worse. I’m talking about, just getting by. Is there anything worse than doing something that is just “reasonably efficient?”

I want to challenge you leaders out there this week. At your next meeting, surprise your team. Scrap what you have been working on. I mean scrap it as if it falls on the cutting-room floor and ask yourself and your team, is what we are producing excellent? Give attention to the bottom line, of course, but don’t let it dictate your decisions. Who knows, you just may transform your entire industry.

In just a few short years, roughly 1930 to 1942, Walt Disney was able to catapult animation from entertainment obscurity to an entertainment powerhouse.  In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won a special Academy Award, some even consider it to be the great motion picture ever made. It is also in the top 50 all-time highest-grossing films.

There is little argument that Walt Disney transformed entertainment forever. His innovation, relentless pursuit of excellence and his calculated risks made Disney the creative artist and business genius his legacy declares.

At first glance, it seems like “relevancy” should top the charts (great music, practical application, entertainment) if we are to attract people to our church. However, I recently read some research that may indicate differently.

According to some recent stats about 50% of people choose a church for relational reasons. Those being friendliness, family relationships or personal invitations. The interesting thing about these stats are that only around 10% of people choose a church for its relevancy (e.g. - worship/music style). To me this begs the question I want to pose to pastors and staff leaders:

How “relational” is your worship experience vs. how “relevant”?

This morning I wrote some thoughts down. Feel free to share these with your staff this week. If you feel like this would benefit other pastors you know, pass it along.

How to Create a Relational Worship Experience

• Make your worship experience personal.
  Do everything you can to create a culture of invitation. People are more likely to invite others to a church where they are relationally connected and people are more likely to attend the church of someone they know.  This creates a nice synergy. So, spend marketing dollars internally for a change, invest back into your members. Give them tools and, most important, reasons to invite others.
• Do everything you can to provide an interactive dialogue.
  Treat every guest as though they have unspoken questions that need to be answered. In other words, everything you do during the worship service should try to answer questions you think someone might have. Provide questionnaires, feedback forms, FAQ desk, etc. Laden sermons with answers to questions you think people might have.  Don’t just have a welcome team, appoint a worship service “concierge” to assist people with whatever they need.
• Offer shared values.
  Quickly connect with what’s important to people. Connect with their kids, don’t monopolize their time and constantly communicate your values as a church. People can quickly determine if they line up with you or not, so try to help them find a common ground.
• Offer genuine expressions.
  A lot of people find worship experiences to be contrived, kind of a “going through the motions” thing.  People immediately pick up on disingenuousness, however, find it refreshing when they experience genuine expressions like a smile. The quickest way to express genuineness is to have someone give their personal story during worship. People respond to real life!
• Offer something that is inspirational or motivational.
  Do people walk away saying, “I want to be around that!” I’m not saying that it has to be Joel Osteen “happy” all the time. I believe that even “conviction” can be inspirational. Plug a book, web site, or just print some quotes in your worship guide.
• Don’t just wait for them to come back, ask them to come back before the leave.
  It took a personal invitation to get them there, it will take a personal invitation to get them back. Come up with some creative way to invite your guest back next weekend. When asking for a guest card, don’t just receive their info. Print a nice invitation on nice paper with an envelope that reads, “You’re invited back to attend another great weekend at Grace Church!” Or, add some kind of signage to your welcome area that reads, “Before you go, we have a gift for you.” Give away a gift card, etc.
• Make an emotional connection.
  Are people emotionally connected to your worship experience? Establishing a relationship must take emotional connection into account. I’m not saying to “work up” false emotions. What I am saying is that you should tap into a genuine emotion during the service whether it be anger, sadness, joy or thankfulness.

Obviously, making the worship experience as relevant as it can be is also important. I’m not advocating that you throw out your efforts to connect with the culture. I just wanted to simply challenge you to review your weekend worship experience through a different lens. So, this week, ask your staff, “how relational is our worship experience?”

I just finished a new design project and was looking over my strategy notes and started thinking what if I approached a leadership decision like I do a new design project.  I jotted down the steps I take when starting a new design project and quickly adapted them into a strategy for making a leadership decision. I think it turned out pretty good and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch.

1. Start With A Blank Slate.
   Every design strategy starts with a blank slate, even if I have ideas or looks in mind, I still begin with the blank page. Every leader should begin the process with a “blank slate.” Leave your ideas and assumptions at the door and lead from your values.
2. Listen, Listen, Listen.
   Great graphic designers listen to their clients first, then design second. To capture your client’s ideas and bring them to reality is the task at hand. Great leaders listen first and react later.
3. Get a Mental Picture of What You Want.
   Artists by nature “see” their design in their head, they use their imagination, if you will. Leaders “see” the result before it becomes reality. They use their “vision”, if you will.
4. Get Inspiration.
   All artists need creative inspiration. We look at magazines, web sites, other designers’ work to get our creative juices flowing. All leaders find inspiration from other leaders. Read magazines, books, web sites and talk with other leaders to help you with the decision or project in front of you.
5. Do a Rough Sketch (Don’t Be Afraid to Erase It and Start Over).
   Art is about color, placement, meaning, beauty and message. The end result is NEVER what we started with. We always use more erasers than we do ink! Leaders should always “rough draft” their ideas or decisions. Brainstorm, mindmap, use whatever, just be willing to use more erasers than you do ink.
6. The Beauty is in the Details.
   As an artist, I spend a lot of time on the details. Color, space, symmetry, etc. It’s never the main elements that make or break the piece, it’s the details. Many leaders don’t spend time working through the details of their decisions. Take time for the details, it could be the difference between paint by number and the Mona Lisa.
7. Add a Unique Touch.
   There’s a difference in design technique and design style. Everyone uses the same techniques, no one has the same style. There are times you can look at a piece of art and you instantly know who the artist is. Leaders are the same way. Too many times we, as leaders, lead too much from technique and not enough from the gut. Be sure to embrace your style and go with it. Sometime you look at an organization and you instantly know who the leader is!
8. The Result is Something You Would Proudly Put Your Name On.
   The last thing artists do is add their name to their work. It says, “This is something I created, a part of me for the world to enjoy.” Leaders should ask themselves, “Am I proud enough to put my name on this?” I think this would go a long way toward creating a better decision in the short and long run.

I would love your feedback on this or feel free to share it with your team.