Church Logo

[Jamicah]

I've been through several revisions now of a logo for a new church called 'Glenstone Chapel'. The glen refers to the rolling valleys of the area it's located and the stone refers to the stones that were raised through out the Bible to honor God. I have tried using this stone theme in all of my comps so far to no avail with this client. I have used the stones to create a triangle while the white space inside the triangle makes out a 'G'. I have tried using the stones to create a stone pile while loosely resembling a 'G'. And now I have created a carved stone type cross ( http://micahchin.com/glenstone/logo.html ) that they still can't come to a consensus on. Now, they do like the logo type but I am in serious danger of losing this client if I don't come up with something else fast! Any help and/or ideas would be much appreciated.

[Eraser Nubbin]

The logo says stone too me.... but not so much rolling valleys.
Maybe you could incorporate a stone and some hills and have some sort of shadow cast forming the cross...

Sorry Biblicious topics are not really my forte. I believe there is a designer that hangs around here and does fine church material...

[typographics]

is that papyrus i see?

[DesignerScott]

yup, scared me away!
I think that might just be a church thing though; about 1 in 3 church logos i see are done in papyrus. Still no excuse though!

[lesliegraphics]

Working for a group making the decisions is tough. Everyone has to agree, etc., and that's not easy. If I were you I would explore the idea of a mini illustration of a glen, or the glen, the area they are in. Maybe go out and take some photos for reference of the surrounding landscape. Get them home and use them for reference. Perhaps the building that the church occupies has an interesting feature you could incorporate into the logo. Take a look at some wine bottle labels; many have landscapes. Some are quite detailed, others less so, but many could easily be worked into logos.

[EC]

My advice is: take control of the project. Clients need limits, and they need for you to explain what you need from them to make this a successful project. Firstly, I would ask them straight-up: "What is it exactly that you do not like about what has been done so far?"

It sounds to me like you not only need that information, but you also need more to go by, that all you're really working with is "The glen refers to the rolling valleys of the area it's located and the stone refers to the stones that were raised through out the Bible to honor God." Try asking them what it is that they would like to communicate with this logo? What sort of "feeling" should the logo convey? What are their goals? What makes their church unique? What is the "personality" of the church?

Ask them the questions you need answers to. Hint: NOT "do you want rolling valleys or a stone cross" or "papyrus or times new roman" -- these decisions FOLLOW the larger objective that you need to uncover. When you present a concept, explain to them WHY you've made the decisions you have. If they're sitting around in a committee talking about whether or not they like this font or that, that tells me you're probably not in control.

Tell them that the committee needs to AGREE on the answers to your questions before you can go further, and that you require one point person to be the liason for you to communicate with. That knowing what they DON'T like and knowing more about their larger objectives will help put you on the right path for this next round. It's a process, and the key is communication.

Hope that helps.

[Ovaltine]

^First off, I agree with EC.

Now, since you asked for suggestions... have you tried a cross set in a pile of stones? Don't bother with trying to make letters out of them, just a pile of stones "holding up" a cross.

[Jamicah]

I was actually trying to NOT use a cross in the logo since pretty much every single church uses that in some form or fashion. Any other thoughts?

[Jeizzavelle]

Maybe try something with praying hands if they don't want a cross. Or a sunrising at the horizon.

[tZ]

I don't think papyrus is helping the cause.

I like the idea though but agree with the others.

[Cass54321]

I suggest just sitting down and brainstorming some other ideas you could use than a cross if you are trying to get away from that. I liked the praying hands idea.

[lesliegraphics]

Basically you are going back to drawing board on this one if all they really like so far is the font you are using for the comps. So take advantage of this!! I assume you have had several meetings with them, but I will say this anyway. Do they even really want to have the logo based on the name of their church? It seems like "glen" and "stone" are the obvious - a stone cross, rolling hills, a glen, etc. But maybe there is more to this church. Some research is required to possibly provide a little inspiration. When was the church founded, what are they known for in the community, what is it that the church prides itself with above all else, what is the backbone of this church, what holds it together? What is it that the members of the church love about their church?

I will tell you a similar experience: I did a logo for a church long ago my senior year of college. I went through all the obvious stuff, praying hands, rays of sunlight, crosses, etc. I researched relegious symbols, and on and on. I talked to a few members of the church and discovered that one of the things that everyone said was that they loved the stained glass, and not just all of it, there was a favorite window. It was a window that wasn't visible to the street, it was located in the church nursery. I would have never know this had I not asked a few questions. The logo was designed with that stained glass window as an inspiration.

Try to think of all the things you can having to do with church, relegion, spirituality, everything right down to the feathers on the wings of an angel, the thorns from the head of Christ, etc., etc.; there are alot of things that can be beautiful graphic symbols. List them all down and then start working through that list

Maybe there is something there, you are just going to have to dig for it.

[Jamicah]

Thanks for the suggestions. This church is actually a church plant. It is still in the planning stages and has not officially kicked off. They will beginning meeting in a school until they find a permanent building. So as far as phys characteristics of the church bldg, I probably won't go down that path. But hopefully I can abstract something by asking further questions to the planting group to generate some ideas.

[76pixels]

A cross might be a good idea.

[colonel5]

I like the fonts and difference in the text but the cross says "clipart" to me.

[Zendada]

If the text is written in stone (pun, get it, ha ha) then I’d go with lesliegraphics’ advice. Since it has not been built yet maybe there is something unique about the community landscape or some other characteristic that could be incorporated into a stylized graphic.

[Pixel8]

Jamicah, I actually work at a church - Media Director here. My observation of many churches today is that they are looking for a re-brand that makes them more modern and clean-cut.

Church media today is moving away from traditional and is becoming trend-setting. A lot of the comments from folks here show the mindset that people have. Much of the church world is trying to change that mindset.

For examples:
http://www.northstarchurch.org/
http://www.willowcreek.com/wca_info/find_a_church/ProfileSearch.asp
http://www.northpoint.org/

I hope you guys will be duly surprised by these!

[Drorain]

My church also had a full-blown pro set up a logo, with a complete styles guide, I was very impressed when I was handed this so I could volunteer to work with them.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

Maybe try something with praying hands if they don't want a cross. Or a sunrising at the horizon.

If he does not want to use a cross because is virges cliche in the business, neither of these two solutions will suffice as replacements in my opinion.

Pushing boundaries to differentiate is always good - but I would do it in a more subtle manner due to the subject manner...

Also - I really hope you have this information, but is this a young-hip church, a traditional church...how do they position themselves?

If you're thinking about removing the cross element, I would tread carefully if this is an older church-going audience.

[Pixel8]

/\ Correct, you are on that. /\