It’s been a few weeks now since we started this thing here at New Media Ministry. It’s been a few years, however, from the beginning of my time as a designer. For the few years that I’ve been designing, my main market has been the Church and ministry organizations. What I’ve heard from our new friends (via the site, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.) about their perception of design is not much different than what I’ve heard along the way from my clients and friends in ministry.

I KNOW IT’S IMPORTANT, BUT I CAN’T AFFORD IT

The overwhelming consensus is that great design really does matter. People know (without maybe being able to articulate why) that design has an effect on their audience and there is an understanding that relevant and great looking promotional materials make a difference in the response they get from the people they’re ministering too. Unfortunately most of the time, this understanding is coupled with the reservation that spending time learning design concepts or even hiring someone to help make materials is just too expensive and too time consuming. So how can it be that a fundamental part in the process of evangelization isn’t worth investing in? I think there’s a relatively simple explanation for this.