Archive for 'Design'
Font Friday: Kenyan Coffee
Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I got my weekly email from KidzMatter.org. Right away, the bold, black font popped out at me. Immediately I said to myself, “I really like that font. I gotta have it.” So, I did the shameless thing and email KidsMatter.org to ask them what font they used. 
Actually, I was in luck. I know the guy (Evan) who designs these weekly emails and he was more than happy to throw me a bone. Thanks a million Evan.
The font is called Kenyan Coffee. It’s got a 1920′s New York art deco look and feel that’s strong but unique. To do what they did in this email, I probably would have defaulted to Arial Black, but Kenyan Coffee is a great substitute. I’m looking forward to using it soon.
This font can be downloaded here.
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Introducting Font Friday
Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by Kenny.
If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you’ve discovered that I’m a little bit of a freak about fonts. Actually, you may only know that I have a raging hatred (is that too strong of a feeling about a font) against the font “Algerian.” Just in case you’re wondering, I equally detest “Comic Sans.” No joke, the other day I married a couple where the wife was a school teacher. I sent her the wedding outline to look over and make modifications. She sent it back to me a week later with her changes. One of which was reformatting the outline in the font Comic Sans. Arrrrrggggg!
Just so you know. I don’t just hate certain fonts. I really like other fonts. When I see a font I like, I imagine the things I would use it for. Usually when designing, the first thing I look at is my font book to get inspiration for the overall design. I feel really proud of myself at times when I’m out and I see a font I recognize. I’ll tell my wife what the font is on that billboard. She’s not nearly as impressed.
So, I’ll continue my sporadic series of the dreaded Algerian font in the wild, but I’m also adding a new (and equally sporadic) series call Font Friday. It’s where I’ll feature some of my favorite fonts as well as new fonts I fall in love with. Most importantly, I’ll share these wonderful fonts with you as well. Remember, this blog is a two-way conversation. Shoot me a message telling me what some of your favorite fonts are and maybe I’ll feature them on a Friday as well.
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Mod my woo
Posted on 29. Jul, 2010 by Kenny.
I need some help from a wordpress ninja if you’re out there.
I’m using a woo theme for Children’s Ministry Online. Unfortunately, my sidebar is slightly too narrow for something I want to do. Literally, I need the sidebar to be about 4-6 pixels wider. Unfortunately it’s not as easy as just changing some numbers. In addition to some code changes, it also requires some changes to the background image (says the Woo Themes support forum). So, I’m getting some quotes from some affiliated Woo Theme Customization workers tomorrow. Do you or anyone you know have the competency to make the modifications I need? Feel free to let me know my contacting me from my contact page.
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Updating my weekly parent update
Posted on 24. May, 2010 by Kenny.
I’ve been using Constant Contact for almost two years to communicate news to parents. I’ve been very happy with it as a communication tool. I get all kinds of great feedback from every email like what emails are being read, forwarded and the like. However, I’ve been very slow to adjust to using all that Constant Contact has to offer. For the first several months, I didn’t use any graphics. It was just a boring text email. Then a few months later I added a snappy header and that’s what I’ve been using ever since. However, I’ve been inspired to make some changes and have a semi-final product. I’d be curious as to what you think.
Here’s the template I’ve been using (click on image to see full page):
Here’s the new template (blue version, not sure we’re going to use this one):
Here’s another new template (green version, probably going to go with this one):
I’ll be using this new template this week, so any input you have would be much appreciated. Thanks!
BTW, I think I’m going to have to extra things done this week. I’m going to have my graphic designer tweak the header “The KQ Update” so it doesn’t look so plain. In addition I think I’m going to have her tweak the “Join Our Mailing List” as well so it looks a little better designed.
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I Loath Algerian Font Day #9
Posted on 27. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Someone is proud to be Chamorro. I’m not sure what that is, but I don’t really care. Algerian is an overused font that doesn’t really “fit” in most uses, like the one here. Come on designers, just because you’ve seen it around somewhere doesn’t mean it’s gong to make a great font for your license plate holder.
Fail!
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Ministry t-shirts: Vendors
Posted on 24. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I wrote about t-shirts and the process you should probably follow in selecting, designing and ordering shirts for your ministry. Often times, your best bet is to find a local screen printer who you can work with. This way you can personally inspect the work before the job is done. However, not everyone has access to a quality screen printer. Not all screen printers are equal. Screen printers that do quirky and creative things are hard to find. Let me share with you a few vendors I know and respect.
IPGI is an excellent screen printer. They actually do everything from screen printing, embroidery and promotional products. I used them many times when I worked in Fort Worth. Finished shirts had to be shipped in from Oklahoma, but the shirts were always very high quality and the price was often hard to beat. I’d say that if you’re looking for a high quality shirt (nothing fancy like over-sized prints or printing over seams), you can’t go wrong with IPGI. They’re fast and dependable.
Kendra from North Point sent me to Future Shirts. When visiting NP last year, I noticed the volunteer shirts had a cool “holister” applique look and Kendra told me that Future Shirts are the ones who produced them. You’re going to pay a little more for future shirts, but if your design is good, you’ll be impressed with what you can do. Future Shirts produces merchendise for many big name bands and they do just about everything. If you want a totally trendy shirt, the Future Shirts is the shop for you. The only downside is that they have a three week minimum turn-around time. You’re not going to get any last minute orders in with these guys.
A Children’s Pastor friend from Tennessee passed this one on to me and I think they’re my new favorite. On their about page it says this: Anyone can print you a tee. But it takes a special skill to create one that people wear to places other than the gym. YES! It looks like Amb3r does just about everything that Future Shirts does, but they just seem more user friendly. Just hang out on the site and you’ll feel like you got an education in options you can use on a shirt. The prices actually seem pretty good for the stuff they can do. Best of all, you can purchase design packages where they’ll actually design your shirt for you. From the looks of it, they do some great stuff!
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Ministry t-shirts
Posted on 23. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
There’s nothing like a new shirt for your kidmin volunteers. Especially if it’s cool.
Ever had that shirt you were ashamed to wear outside of church? Especially if you went out with some volunteers for lunch after church, then there’s be a mob of people in ugly shirts. It’s a shame, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve made it a mission to do everything in my power to avoid stupid looking shirts for volunteers in my children’s ministry. I want my volunteers to wear their shirts on Sunday, but more importantly, I want them to want to wear their shirts. It’s good advertising and I really do want people to be proud to wear their shirts out in public, not embarrassed because the person who designed it had no sense of style.
Here are some pretty important steps for getting a ministry shirt, especially one you’ll be happy with.
- You need an idea, concept or look you want to create. Many childrens pastors would be well served to do this step well. Visit clothing websites like Hollister, American Eagle and Threadless Tees. Consult your student pastor, college students or young adults who seem to dress like the culture of your church. Find something you like that others agree would look great too. A graphic artist can often help in this process, but sometimes it’s best to get the idea first before going to the graphic artist.
- Get a graphic artist to design your shirt. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then it’s probably best that you don’t design your shirt. You have a lot of options. You might hire a designer. You can find them locally or even from the web. For my last shirt, I was about 5 hours away from hiring a graphic designer I found through twitter. You’ve probably even got some designers who attend your church. It’s likely you can get a graphic designer to do it for free if you’re on a tight budget. Some vendors even have designers and if you can afford it, it might be a great option for you. They’ll know best what the design will look like on their shirt. Most importantly, ask to see the work the graphic artist has done. It you don’t see any designs they’ve made that look anything like you want, don’t expect them to be able to do what you want. Do your homework and you’ll save yourself some time.
- Select your vendor. This is your screen printer company. I usually like to work with the company directly. There are lots of “middle men” out there. They’ll represent you to the printers and look for the best pricing. They’ll even come to you. However, you’re going to pay for them and I don’t feel they always give me the service that’s worth paying for. Usually your best bet is to find a local screen printer that does high a volume business. I’ve worked with mom and pops print shops in the past. The experience has always been good, but usually what they can do is limited. They may say they can do anything you want, but it may mean that they’re sending it out to be done somewhere else which makes them the middle men and you’ll pay for that. Currently I use a local screen printer that does a high volume of shirts for the University of Texas. They do great work. They have to to get a client like UT. It’s not always a bad thing to use a vendor that isn’t local, just know that you’ll be paying for shipping to get the shirts delivered. When talking to a vendor, make sure to get the information that your designer is going to need. Some vendors have size, color or detail limitations that will influence how the designer designs.
So, hopefully that helps give you a little direction on having shirts printed. Tomorrow I’ll post some links you might want to check out of resources I use or plan to use.
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Branding the 2014 Olympics
Posted on 03. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Okay, I think this might be my last Olympics design post. I think.
I’ve written a few posts this week about branding and design that captures the culture or location of the event. What I’m about to reveal is absolutely amazing in regard to branding, marketing and cultural identity in relation to the 2014 Olympics.
John McWade is the author of Before & After. Before & After is all about design. It’s a magazine (originally), but now a website, a blog and even a book. If you want to learn how to be a better designer, spend some time learning from John. Interestingly, John is my Uncle (by marriage). I’ve only met him a few times, but I’ve been a fan of Before & After from the time I got my hands of my first copy.
So here is a post from December talking about the selection of the 2014 official logo for the Winter Games in Sochi. I’m not going to give anything away yet, just read the post, it’s fascinating.
So, what do you think? Are you disappointed? I was. I really liked the firebird logo. I liked it a lot.
Now, read his follow-up post which you can read here. He might just change your mind.
Do you see the official Sochi log differently now? I do. I still feel somewhat attached to the firebird logo, but I totally understand the official logo. It makes perfect sense and I think in the long run, I’ll actually like it better. As I think about what both logos would look like on a shirt, I think I’d prefer to official logo as just the look itself matches the style I’d prefer to wear… which is what they’re going for.
I think there are a lot if things we can learn from the Sochi logo. When creating designs for our ministries, do these designs adequately describe who you are and who you’re trying to reach? Does it smell of “clip art” or is it unique and original? Also, is it “now?” I liked how John described the official logo as one that could be considered outdated in the future, but that’s okay. Will we pick current and “now” over timeless? Does our design have a soul? I know that these posts helped give me new questions to ask as we look at branding our ministry in the near future.
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Olympic design over the years
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
The other day I wrote about brand confusion, specifically pertaining to the 2010 Winter Olympics. My friend Jonathan Cliff sent me the following video about how event pictograms have changed over the years, both for the better and for the worse. For anyone interested in design, it’s a fascinating video. Thanks Jonathan for the video. Enjoy!
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Newest volunteer shirts
Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
I’ve been wanting to publish this post for several weeks, but I had to maintain secrecy. It’s been really challenging trying to figure out exactly what our new Kids Quest t shirts were going to look like. I’ve gone through several initial designs but since this shirt was a gift for our volunteers, I didn’t want to post it online for feedback where a lot of my volunteers would see it (since a lot of them lurk around this site. Ha!). So, here’s what we’ve got.
About 15 months ago I launched this new shirt for our volunteers. It had been YEARS (I think) since there had been a children’s ministry shirt and the most recent one was a very, bright (as in neon bright) green. I’ll just tell you, I don’t do neon. So, the new shirts were a welcome change. The volunteers loved them. My goal was to make the design a little on the edgy side. I didn’t want your typical children’s ministry volunteer shirt.
Then back in August I launched this shirt. Although I really like this shirt, I only ordered a small number of them for staff, some key leaders and as a shirt kids could buy when they registered for our lock-in. I’m getting ready to make them available online and let volunteers and parents order them. The colors are more fun and bright (closer to what you’d expect for kidmin, but the design is still pretty cool.
Then this last weekend we held a volunteer appreciation party where we gave out our newest volunteer only shirt. The quest actually started 4-5 weeks ago, but even so, I didn’t have enough time to see my grand vision to come life. That will be our next shirt. I can’t wait. I’ll tell you more about what that one is going to look like, but you’re going to have to wait. So, this shirt was a compromise, not exactly what I originally hoped, but something I’m still very happy with. I wanted a design that would be popular with the men but still something the girls would like. The feedback so far has been fantastic. The volunteers love them! I’ve been in kidmin for years and I’ve had many cheesy shirts designed. I still have a lot in my closet (more than my wife is happy about). I’m at the point now that I only want to design shirts that our teenage or adult male volunteers (especially the ones that are somewhat fashion aware) would get excited about. So, I feel like we got pretty close to that with this shirt.
With this shirt in particular, I wanted an off-center design. It’s still hard to find screen printers that will print “over-sized” and print over collars and seams (which is what we originally wanted). Due to time limitations, we ended up having to stick with our local screen printer that could print the standard size and not go over seams. I was at the Texas State History Museum for by birthday and saw a similar shirt with an off-center design on the back, which I had never seen before. I loved it, so decided to do it for this shirt.
We printed 400 of these shirts, 3 colors on the front, 3 on the back. We had two different setup charges as we had this image for the larger adult sizes and this image for the small adult sizes. Our final cost was about $4.40 per shirt. Not bad, huh?
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