haiti•
on August 6th, 2010•
Tomorrow morning I fly again into Haiti. I’ve been to Haiti three other times, the last time was shortly after the January 12th earthquake. Last time I came to Haiti I stayed on the roof of the World Concern offices and brought in my own food and tent…this time I’m actually sleeping in a refugee camp with 22,000 other people.
This time I’m coming down to Haiti to capture stories for Forward Edge International, a ministry based in Vancouver, Washington. It’s a quick trip – just three days – but already I can feel myself being anxious. I’m not anxious about staying in a tarp city or about the inevitable lack of sleep I’ll get by living next to so many people with nothing but a tarp between us. I’m getting a sense of anxiety because I know that on Monday I’ll be getting on a plane and flying back home to my comfortable life in Wilsonville, Oregon. How will I feel about that? And I have other questions: What will I say to the Haitian people I interview when I leave them, knowing that they’ll still be living in a tent, still struggling to survive, still battling the rains and the poverty that is Haiti, and I’ll be safe and secure back in my world? How will I be different from this trip? Will my empathy and passion increase, or will I see the conditions and justify it away in my mind? Those are the types of questions that raise my anxiety level.
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Non-Profit Marketing•
on June 10th, 2010•
Something we come across often when working with ministries are outdated logos. It’s something that is often overlooked in most organizations. Your logo has sentimental value and represents your ministry but change doesn’t have to be drastic and can contribute greatly to the public’s perception of who you are. With all of our client our desire is to represent them for how great they actually are and sometimes bad design is worst representation of a ministry
In some cases an organization plain and simple just has a bad logo and it needs to be redone. Most of the time however, a logo just needs a simple update that shows the ministry is relevant but does not compromise the familiarity of your brand. Different design techniques are popular in different decades and unless you have a timeless logo it might show its age.
We had the privileged of updating the Phoenix Rescue Mission’s logo recently. The update was as simple as a font change a little bit of rearranging. This new logo is current and fresh but can still be used along side the old logo and act as a transition as they update signs, business cards and other promotional material.
Recently Google quietly updated the logo on their homepage. If you weren’t paying attention you might not have noticed it but it is a perfect example of what we are talking about. You would think with a large business like Google who’s logo defines their brand wouldn’t want to touch their design. But Google’s billions doesn’t hold them back from doing what is right for their organization. This year Google made some subtle changes to their logo to keep it up to date but managed not to compromise their brand integrity. No one probably even noticed this but subconsciously Google managed to stay relevant in the eyes of their users. Take a look below and see if you can tell the difference?
Now think about the fact that Google probably had to pay significant amount of money to make this change.
Is it worth it for your organization?
AGRM, i58:10 Media•
on May 17th, 2010•
We’re back from Chicago! It was a pleasure seeing so many of you at the AGRM Conference!
One of the joys of this year’s conference for us was the ability to capture and share the video stories of how God has overwhelmed so many Missions with His provision. These videos were shared during each General Session and if you want to see them again, or if you weren’t able to make it to Chicago, (or if you just want to be encouraged) you can watch them below!
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Almost every Sunday I am in my church singing what have become very familiar songs to me. I love music, it helps me connect with God and offer worship and surrender. But many times, I admit, singing the same songs over and over (and hearing these same songs on the radio almost everyday) can lead me to “worship by rote.” I worship, but my heart wanders due to familiarity of the song. But not today.
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Since we design and build websites, we get a lot of questions about them from Non-Profit Ministries. Our most common question: “What should I put on my website?” If this is the main question, then we need to reverse our thinking. Instead, put yourself on the other side of the computer monitor. Begin with the perspective of your web visitor whose biggest question is: “What can I do on this website?” This is the foundational question from which you need to design your users experience visiting your site.
Questions your web viewers are asking when they go to your website are:
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Tomorrow morning I fly again into Haiti. I’ve been to Haiti three other times, the last time was shortly after the January 12th earthquake. Last time I came to Haiti I stayed on the roof of the World Concern offices and brought in my own food and tent…this time I’m actually sleeping in a refugee camp with 22,000 other people.
