This is a series design I did a while back for our High School dept. I had the opportunity to take my own photos for this piece, you can find out more about how this project came about here. The high-res PSD file is now available for download.  

One of the many things that I love about my job is the opportunity to work with the different departments at the church.  Student ministries is something that is close to my heart and I try to help out as much as I can in helping them visually communicate to their specific audiences.  

The project above is a mail-out piece I did for our high school ministry.  The computer time it took to finish this project was longer then most, but totaled out to about a days work, not including tweaks and changes during the proofing process.  

I really enjoy seeing projects go from concept to finish piece.  My favorite part is always the actual design work but in order for that to go smoothly there are several things that most happen outside of the computer.  

I remember meeting with the high school staff and listening to them tell me why they wanted this piece.  There first idea was to do a calendar of some sorts to hand out.  While this was a good idea, we began to think of the events that would be this calendar.  Some of the events didn't hadn't even been finalized and would have to push production back.  With further dialogue we agreed that we didn't want this to be content heavy. 

By the end of the meeting we both narrowed down the goal of this project which was:  to create a save the date mail-out that would be cool enough to hang on a student's refrigerator at home.  

The other key ingredient to this was time.  Normally we have a two week turnaround.  Which by most standards isn't very long.  This was a project that could have been done quickly but I'm thankful they gave me plenty of time to finish it.  

The whole project from start to finish took almost two months. It's not like we work on it everyday but this help to give me the freedom to experiment with the layout and time to let it sit.  For me, I feel I can push a project more if I'm able to walk away from it and come back to it later.  

The end result was great, they were happy and so was I.  The projects that get me are the ones that I have regrets about, the ones that I wish I could go back and tweak some lighting or another element.  With this one as soon as It rolled off the printer I was content.  

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It's another "normal" week at PVC.  Found out Monday morning that our office was going to be remodeled into a new nursery.  The new office they are setting up for us is going to be darker and further down the hall.  So I consider it it a win win.  

In the middle of all this I was reminded that we are starting a new series this weekend and hadn't heard anything on what it was about. Mitch soon filled me in on the details and gave me a graphic that one of the teaching pastors used before. I wanted to changed it up, but still keep at as close to the original concept, since that is what the pastor liked.

The series is going to be "Perspectives of Jesus" and keying in on some of the symbols used in describing Him such as the lion, lamb, ox and eagle.  

I've been wanting to created something with this particular style for a while.  I'm really happy how it turned out, I have to give some props to the design peeps (you know who you are) that gave me some needed critique and push.  

Below are is a screen shot of the original images I used to create the final piece.  

This has been a crazy week so far.  I had about three days to layout a 64 page devotional booklet and get it to press.  It was three days of copy-paste-format over and over again.  The bright spot in this project was designing the cover.  I have been wanting to try out, what I call, a word art style (not to be confused with word art in Microsoft word) for a while. 

This devotional booklet is going along with the Lent series starting Ash Wednesday. The teaching pastor hook me up with forty key words he was using during this series.  I had the idea in my head and really like how it played out.  The time lapse below took three hours in real time.  

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This is a graphic I did several months back for our Jr. High Dept..  My brother, Oz, sketched the type which I then used as the foundation in photoshop .  The .PSD version of the file available for download here.  

Below are some of my favorites, you can check out the rest here. 

On the second day of our trip my sister showed me new camera app called Hipstamatic.  This app emulates old plastic cameras and also give you the option to switch virtual lens, flash, and film.  At first I thought it was just another novelty app, but what app on the iphone isn't a novelty. 

This app made it fun to take pics again.  I wasn't too crazy about the wait time from taking the pic and seeing the final, but I guess it adds to the suspense of looking at it.

So hip hip hooray for Hipstamatic. Here's just a few shots from the first couple of days with it.  

Even though this was a misprint this sure would be a great way to cut down on printing costs. 

I don't fault them for taking a long time in preparing the order. Working several years in the food industry has made me appreciate what it takes to get orders out. The thing that bugged me the most wasn't the time but the unrealistic expectations that were set.  

There has been instances where I have given unrealistic expectations on project deadlines and what can be created with the time allowed.  In most cases, this always leads to late nights or upset clients.  

What If the waitress would have come to me and said, "Sir, we are really swamped right now and it's going to take longer then expected." I still would probably still  be upset but at least that gives them room to surprise me.  Same thing with working with departments on projects.  

Being upfront and truthful in the beginning gives me the opportunity to surprise the client.  Maybe I'm able to turn around a project in one week instead of the three.  Or maybe I can spend more time on research and sketching which will in turn give them a better piece at the end.  

This is something I need to work on this coming year.  Being able to gauge my time and abilities to set real, achievable expectations.  

Ah, the Christmas season is here and if your like me and are a church graphic designer you might be getting started on all those Christmas graphics.  "Jesus Hope for Humanity" was last year's series art.  I made the PSD file available for download here.