Not Art. Gospel.
Why create art? That is a question I have been asking myself a lot the past couple months. Do I want recognition? Do I want to stir up controversy? Do I feel like I am superior to others? The more I spend time thinking about my reasons for art, the less I spend time thinking of the gospel. So here is my resolution. Do not create art, but share the gospel. That is what I am focusing on for a new project. My goal is to create images for every topic on the Sermon on the Mount. I want the art to tell the story, I want the art to be the gospel.
I do not know what format this will take, or what I want it to become. Please pray that God will use this, and open up doors for His glory to be known.
Here is my first attempt.
Project One: M7:3-5
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7: 3-5
Filed under design, scripture | Comments (10)Colors of the West Coast
For the past 2 weeks I have been driving up and down the west coast. I have really seen it all; beaches, farms, redwood forests, bays and mountains. I have had the weather range from sunny and 95˚ to snowing and 34˚. And what I loved the most was seeing how Gods hand was in all the creation. The beauty that he created is beyond anything I can dream of.
So as a designer, and this being earth day, let me give you the color palette God showed me on my vacation.
Want some more color inspiration? www.colourlovers.com
Filed under design | Comment (1)Marketing for Celibacy
With all of the sex talk on the blog lately, I thought this would be a sigh of relief.
The catholic church is having a difficult time convincing young men that they should sign up to be poor virgins. According to the this article they have seen a catastrophic decline in the number of young men signing up to be priests.
Enter: the marketing department.
They have begun a huge ad campaign, including NBA games.
A catholic seminary has launched a new site to help persuade young catholic men that they should be heroes and sign up for the priesthood. I like the idea of telling men, they need to be men ( or in this case heroes). Though it doesn’t seem that their story is consistent. They say ‘the world needs heroes’, but they don’t indicate a problem that needs to be solved. It feels more like a GQ photo shoot for guys in weird tuxedos.
The way to call your men to be heroes is to tell them their is a huge problem, sin. And that the blood of Christ, and the grace of God is the only hope. They need to guide their families, churches, and neighbors to cross. Give the men a duty, call them to a higher calling.
And now for your moment of zen: Here’s a fake advertisement from the news story.
What Lovely Design
Are you ready for some design hotness? I hope so, cause here it comes!
These taken from Dirty Mouse
This next one will need some explaining. Make sure you read this, awesome stuff.
On major streets and spaces throughout the city of Gothenburg a number of small brightly coloured houses appeared, featuring provocative statements about homelessness and the homeless. At each house the public were asked to critically respond to these statements with their own messages by writing on the houses using pens provided. The houses also contained lighting which would illuminate a pictogram of a homeless person at night.
The statements, written in both English and Swedish, were created to be deliberately inflammatory so they would receive the strongest possible responses. Featuring statements such as ‘It’s a person’s own fault that they are homeless’, ‘Homeless people don’t deserve sympathy’, ‘Homeless people shouldn’t be helped with public money’ and ‘Most homeless people are addicted to drugs or alcohol’ caused the public to react strongly on one side of each argument or the other.
The team hoped that the project could in some small way help to improve communication between homeless people and people with homes, closing the mental gap that exists between these two groups. By reading other peoples statements it was hoped people may begin to question their own views about homelessness.
These taken from Ad Blog Arabia
These taken from Advertising/Design Goodness
What I love about all these designs is the simplicity.
What I love about all of these designs is that the simplicity is powerful. These are all simple concepts but will make you stop and look. The items will make you think, and this is what the church needs to do. Make sure you check out all these blogs and be inspired.
Filed under design, simplicity | Comments (2)Redesign. Redesign. Redesign.
We just worked on a series for a church in Southern California (EastLake Church) called “No Perfect People”. This is one of those series that can’t seem to find it’s place in design, and we ended up with three completely different looks. In the moment redesigns can be so frustrating, but in retrospect it is kind of fun to see the message in all three. Each series seems to have it’s own personality, and speaks something different to me. This series wanted to communicate that none of us are perfect, and none of us can be good enough for God. God takes and loves us as is. Just look at Paul, he was arresting and terrorizing early Christians. But God still used him and loved him even though he was stained and broken.
- The top series was the first and my concept was simple. Every man (and woman) is truly stained. No matter how we look, what kind of car we drive, or how people see us, we are covered with sin. I wanted the graphic to be simple with that message.
- The middles series had a different approach, it attacked the stereotype we place on each other. The quest for perfection and beauty. To God that is nothing without him. (It was just brought to my attention that this concept has already been designed. I never knew about this one, but it will make a good blog post—always search series titles first!)
- And the last is about how we see ourselves. We look in the mirror and can see every sin we have ever committed. We see the shattered life that we live, and think there is no way to repair it—but God can.
This series taught me to look at a message from different angles and different points of view. I won’t say that I did not get frustrated having to change it three times, but I am glad that I did.
Filed under design, series | Comment (1)simplicity screams
In our world of buzz words, marketing trends and relevance, we can lose the simplicity of the biblical illustrations that we have been given. The bible uses 2 contrasting ideas to describe christian life—darkness and light, and death and life. These ideas can be understood by any culture, sex, race, or age at any period of time.
We were given the task to come up with a series design called “Come Alive” that focused on “ identity, freedom from sin, and power in Christ”. When we started reading the description of each week the image of Lazarus and the Widow’s Son came to our minds. When Jesus commanded Lazarus to “Come Alive” it was nonnegotiable, his eye’s were opened. When Christ calls us our eyes are opened, and we now live in the light. That was what inspired us with this art. The visual of a dead man opening his eyes again in world of darkness to see the light. We wanted the art to be so simple that the message would scream though it. The bible is filled with powerful, challenging, beautiful and simple messages that are sometimes best to be keep as is. Let the simplicity of scripture scream.
