But Times are Hard
I came across this postcard (designed by Because Studio) last night, and thought it was worth sharing with everyone. The irony and humor of this piece definitely made me laugh, but it also reminded me of the responsibility that we have as designers working in the church/ministry realm to promote smart financial stewardship when it comes to producing our marketing materials.
In economic times like these I think it’s especially important that we make smart decisions with how our churches and ministries disburse their money. Although that newly designed four-color, full bleed, custom die cut mailer may look like a million bucks, it might not be that wise to drop $5,000 to get them printed, cut and mailed out. A better solution might be to do an equally-fly looking HTML email blast and accompanying micro-website. The leftover budget could be used to financially bless and support some struggling church or community members.
Besides, there’s few better ways to stretch yourself as a designer then by creating a killer tri-fold brochure using no bleeds, and only one color! Give it a shot, I promise you’ll bang your head on the desk at least once.
Filed under other, simplicity |4 Responses to “But Times are Hard”
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I have been thinking a lot about this lately too. Mailing is so darn expensive now, but that is the main form of communication for churches. Stats show that the majority of people come to church because they were invited by someone, so why not empower the members. Design marketing around them, and use them to communicate. I know this can be done in a new way, just need a church to really want to do it, and communicate that to the members. It will save you money, but will be a little bit more work.
Wow, seriously last night the rubber hit the road on this. I was designing full bleed double sided bookmarks for our ladies ministry and figured out the cost for them to be printed, laminated and cut… since it was coming out of my pocket and I need groceries this week… suddenly my scrapbooking days came out and text was printed on high gloss on my personal printer and photos on photo paper and I brought out the ink and adhesives… cost me barely anything comparatively. Granted I didn’t impress anyone with my photoshop skills this time but that’s not the point right?
Now today I get to redo the bulletin boards… break out the scissors!!!
Good work Ronni! I think the DIY spirit can go a long way when it comes to creating church materials. Besides, like I said in the post, it’s a huge stretch on your creativity and problem solving skills.
Thanks for this, Kyle. Those of us pushing for professionalism and excellence need a reminder sometimes to keep our priorities straight — to be professional and excellent WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF wise, self-controlled spending.
What’s even harder (for me) is to take the principle and apply it to my on-the-clock ministry hours.