by Abby Ryan
This Sunday, we were excited to unveil the new Grace Baptist logo and share it with all of you. As we do this, our team would also love to share our goal behind the redesign and why we felt an update was helpful and necessary as we head into this new chapter full of opportunity and growth!
Branding vs. Visual Identity
You probably hear the word “branding” a lot. It’s everywhere and in everything. And as it becomes more prevalent, the public eye focuses on the branding and visual identity of all organizations—businesses and churches alike. Unfortunately, sometimes people will interpret an emphasis on the visual impact of a church (like the logo, signage, or building) as a lack of focus on the actual content of the mission or theology. At times this may be the case, but understanding it as a rule that fancy graphics=shallow church is a misunderstanding of how good design can serve the church’s mission.
Branding is how an organization presents itself and is perceived by people inside the organization and the public. This is impacted by more than visual identity but also church culture, visitor experience, organization vision and values, and perceived personality. If you were to sit down and list all the pieces of Grace Baptist someone might interact with that would form their opinion of the church, you have found the factors that influence our “brand.”
Visual identity is what a brand looks like, including the updates we’ve recently seen implemented at Grace with the redesigned logo. The main focus is typically on the logo, but other aspects such as color palette, imagery, typography, website, graphics, and social media also represent part of an organization’s visual identity.
So, what does an updated visual identity mean for the church?
First, it is the way the church is represented in the community. Before one of our neighbors has any personal interaction with the church, they have allowed how we’ve presented ourselves through our visual identity to either draw them in and make them feel welcome or push them away.
Second, good design will effectively communicate, inspire, and remove obstacles to interaction. With a clean, easy-to-understand, and attractive layout, various resources will help our church become even more approachable to the unbelievers we seek to reach. Those who may be skeptical already provide themselves with reasons to stay out of the church, and we don’t want a confusing or outdated resource to give yet another reason to avoid attending.
Third, good design is a way to glorify God by utilizing members’ skills within the congregation and by reflecting God’s creative nature and love for beauty in how we present our church to unbelievers in our community.
What role can the congregation have during these updates?
This month especially, we will be going through many changes in our church. This is a time for our congregation to graciously navigate these changes, allowing for bumps and glitches and patiently making the transition. This is also a time to get excited about the growth happening in our church! We should look differently than we did 5, 10, or 30 years ago. As we continue to grow as the Lord has blessed us, we should continue to dream about the impact we can make for the Kingdom of God in Canton in the next 5, 10, and 30 years. Let your unique passions and gifts drive you to make an impact on those in your personal communities of work, school, and neighborhood.
Updating the logo may seem like a small, irrelevant change, as it does not directly impact the congregation’s nature or the sermons’ content. However, it is actually a significant change because it represents the identity of the church that has remained unchanged for so long. Logos and branding are effective because they help bond an organization with its people. In the same way, a church logo is impactful because it indicates a new, fresh identity for its congregants to connect with as well. Visual identity is something that churches can easily overlook, but when executed well, it ultimately provides a valuable link with the community, improves communication, and glorifies God.
