Time is ticking away and Christmas is a comin’.
There is a growing trend for ‘Ugly Christmas Sweaters’ with online stores fighting for business and Save the Children running an annual ‘Christmas Jumper Day’. Reindeers, candy canes and snowflakes abound in 80s-inspired designs.
But the carol services are fast approaching and Christmas is the time that most churches see a spike in visitors. Our neighbours and friends are more disposed to an invitation to come to a service.
Go to the professionals?
But what about the publicity? How do you make the best of that card or poster? How do you tread the line between festive cheer and publicity that screams ‘we were relevant once’?
Firstly, perhaps you should consider using professionally designed Christmas literature — there is some brilliant Scripture-inspired design online — both templates and custom designs.
Do it yourself?
As that’s not always possible, secondly here are some tips for those of you going it alone:
• Think about your audience — families or adults — and design, using a font and colours from a Christmas window of a shop they might like. Treat Christmas-only fonts with caution. Two colours, plus black and white, and two fonts (the other one should match other church publicity) is a good rule of thumb. It will be hugely appreciated if you agree these with the minister, or ask him for a suggestion of someone to run it past, before proceeding further.
• Think about the most important information — probably the title and date — and make sure this is big. However, don’t feel you need to fill the whole page. Think of the page like a gallery wall; the blank walls draw the eye to the most important information.
• Avoid Clipart — make it Christmassy with colours rather than a lonely sprig of holly in the corner. But if it’s looking lacklustre, perhaps try faint textures to give depth to a plain background, or make the top half of the background white — perhaps with the title on top and the bottom half in a dark colour with the details on top in white.
• If you’re not getting it printed professionally, bear in mind how much ink will be used by big blocks of colour and the stress that might cause!
It might not be perfect, but it won’t be ugly, and it might make all the difference in someone’s perception of Christ and his people.
Annie is a graphic designer specialising in small business and charities. www.annieliggins.com
