Effective Church Communications

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators. 

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators.

Typesetting for kid’s communications

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PDF of Typesetting for Kids publicationsCreating communications for children can be lots of fun, especially with the fun typefaces you can use.

This PDF gives you some guidelines to make your use of them more effective. Though it has some useful tips, the companies cited are no longer in business, but http://www.fontspace.com/ is and below are some of their current fonts that are great for children:

All the fonts above are from:  http://www.fontspace.com/ and are free downloads.

Google fonts also has a great selection of free fonts

One very important guideline to keep in mind is to NEVER use the typefaces that have reversed letters (such as a reversed "e" or "s"). It might seem like that would be a harmless, cute thing to do, but when little children receive a printed piece from a respected person in the church and the penmanship is all wrong, it can be confusing.

Have fun, do kid-friendly things, but always remember the position of authority and influence you have in young lives.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image.

note: this PDF is from Yvon Prehn's archives and is the only format of this article available presently. Not the greatest quality to be sure, but shared with the belief that the content is useful.

Some types tips to make your materials more readable

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A few little changes to how you use type can make a big difference in the readability of your communication as this PDF shows.

Some of the tips below are not what people intially expect. For example, most people think that to put type in a color emphasizes it, but unless the type in color is quite large, colored type is usually harder to read than simple black on white because there is less contrast.

Even though it is very popular today for some blogs to be done all in reversed type (white on a black background), that is always much harder to read. You have to decide—do you want people to read what you have to say or think your site looks really edgy?

What the poster illustrates is how you can use a fancy typeface to catch attention as we did when we did up a flyer to remind kids to donate to a shoe drive, but the actual instructions to the parents are in a plain, clear typeface. This is a good example to follow on the kinds of communications you design for people to put up on the refrigerator to remind them of church events or ministries.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image.

Misc. type tips

Typefaces that look great for an entire publication

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You can save yourself a lot of time and trouble if you don't keep changing typefaces throughout your print publications. You can use a different typeface for your headers and your body text, but you certainly don't have to. Especially type-setting longer printed pieces, using one typeface throughout and varying the weight and style will give you a timeless and professional-looking piece.

Remember, the type itself should always be invisible—you want people to grasp your message—not notice the type that contained it.

Some of the typeface families that work well for this are shown in the PDF below. To download the PDF, click here or on the image below.

Typefaces that look great for an entire publication

Variety in typefaces makes church bulletins easier to read

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PDF Typeface choices for church bulletinsThe choices you make in the typefaces you use and where you place your headings can make a big difference as to how hard or how easy it is for people to follow along as they use the bulletin during the church service.

If you vary the typeface noticeably between the body and the header, it is easier to read.

If you have the header on the outside left margin instead of centered, it is MUCH easier to find your place.

These may seem like little changes, but anything that makes your church service more comfortable, especially for a visitor might make it easier for them to listen and respond to the message.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image.

note: this PDF is from Yvon Prehn's archives and is the only format of this article available presently. Not the greatest quality to be sure, but shared with the belief that the content is useful.

Typography: an overview and key guidelines for effective design

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Typography Chapter PDFType is one of your most powerful design tools and even though we can easily change typefaces, it takes much more to learn how to use it effectively.

This PDF includes sections on how type is measured, how to choose typefaces, and rules for usage.

To download a copy of the PDF, click here or on the image.

note: this PDF is from Yvon Prehn's archives and is the only format of this article available presently. Not the greatest quality to be sure, but shared with the belief that the content is useful.