The New Role of Design

I heart TED. The talks can be really off-the-wall or really stale. Every now and then, I get a nugget like this one that challenges how I think.

Here are a few of the nuggets that jumped out at me:

• Design was just a part of the process. More than changing the look, they worked to improve the product.
• They adjusted the content accordingly. Making a newspaper people wanted to read, not one that just looked pretty.
• The new role of the designer is from the very beginning to the very end. Give power to the designer.
• You can live in a small, poor country; work for a small company; in a boring branch; with no budget and no people, but you can still put your work to the highest possible level. All you need is inspiration, vision and determination.
• To be good is not enough.

Design carries a new role in today’s world. It needs to be considered at the beginning of, and all throughout, the project. The designer has a perspective that can help your product or message matter to people.That’s our new job, and we need to be ready to embrace it.

Design means more than making something pretty. It means making a product that matters. It’s structuring a magazine or a device so it meets a need. It’s asking questions that aren’t normally asked, and challenging the status quo. Who else but a designer would do that?

No matter where you are, you can do it. All that’s needed is inspiration, vision and determination. However, you must work at your highest level, because if it’s just good (or even really good), it won’t be good enough.

What are your thoughts? Has the role of design changed in the world? Does design at the beginning of the process yield a better end result?

Genius

I’d never really thought much about the idea of “creative genius”. Then I watched this talk from TED by Elizabeth Gilbert. She tackles the notion of creativity and genius, and how the worst thing we did, was place the genius in the creative.

 

The most extraordinary aspects of your being don’t come from you, but are on loan to you; to be passed along to someone else when you are finished.

I am naturally gifted. It’s how God created me; how he wired me. But there are moments when my work becomes something more. Something bigger than my natural giftings allow. She called it transcendent. There are times when God shows up, and transforms my work. He gives it a deeper beauty, and deeper meaning.

There are weekends when I’ve produced my part (the art, and maybe the title), then the rest of our service planning team connects the dots with songs, drama and message. God takes what we did and breaks hearts and transforms lives. I just did my part, and God magnifies it to do the unimaginable.

Confession: there have been times that I just “phoned it in”. God still takes that work and changes lives. I have no joy and satisfaction in those moments. I rejoice in those changed lives, but am secretly frustrated that my heart wasn’t in it.

God doesn’t need me to do his work. He can use any Joe Blo designer who is willing and available.

If you want this to be better than it is, you have to show up and do your part of the deal. If you don’t do anything, that’s okay. I’ll keep producing, because it’s my job. But this won’t be brilliant unless you do your part.

The most brilliant, stunning and remarkable work doesn’t come from me, but when God comes and does his part.

Removing the genius from the creative takes away the responsibility of trying to repeat those divine moments on our own. It’s a huge weight to feel like we must constantly blow minds with our work, but it’s not our job, nor in our ability that do that. When God comes, he makes what we do better. That’s his part.

The flip side is that it also takes away the narcissism and ego that build up. It’s not me and my gifts that transformed those lives; that made something so beautiful. It was God and his work. I cannot and should not take credit. I was just there and available for that exquisite moment.

Do you have a story of how the God showed up and magnified you work/efforts? Are you available for those “exquisite moments”?

Life Hacking

Amazing how life change causes us to re-evaluate our priorities. The bigger the change, the more evaluation is needed. Having a baby (another one) is one of the biggest.

During my time off with Toby, the stress of my life began to bury me. The stress of the birth process, the erratic sleep patterns, the added time and financial stressors. They all weighed on me. Then the weight of what needed to get done back at work hit me, not to mention the outstanding side projects. It was all too much.

While I wasn’t sleeping one night, God revealed this to me: I’m spread too thin. I can’t do it all or carry it all.

My own desires, dreams and plans had allowed me to take on too much junk. So much of what I wanted, left no room for what God wanted for me.

I dream of being an art director. I want influence and final decision power on artwork. I’m a gifted artist, and my talent shines when I clean up other people’s work. I struggle with the initial concepts, but when it’s rolling, my skill allows for really good stuff. Maybe I don’t know enough about the position, but I think I would excel in that role, and that’s where I dream of being.

Part of that role would be to mentor and guide newer designers. I love the idea of teaching design, and sharing what I’ve learned (hence the blog).

Influence and mentoring. Those are what my heart wants. That night with God, he opened my eyes and now that I finally see what he’s given me. I have influence in my children. I was asking for more, so God gave me another child (seems like a no-brainer, but I can be dense). Part of being a father is also mentoring your children; teaching them and guiding them so they’ll make wise decisions.

Six months ago, I was invited to be a moderator in the Church Marketing Lab. The job description there pretty much reads as being a mentor to any new designers that roll in. It wasn’t until that night with God that it finally clicked, this is another way that God is blessing me with what I’ve asked for.

With all that revealed, I can begin to hack away at the excess in my life, allowing me to focus on God’s plan and purpose. I’m stopping all of my side work, since it doesn’t add to what God has called me to. I’m cutting out some volunteer gigs at the church because they’re too demanding of my weekends. I need to disconnect every night (and at least one weekend day) for family time. This blog shouldn’t be a burden or stressor either. Essentially, I should focus on the three things God has called me to; my family, my job, and leading other designers.

Review your life. Consider what you’ve been asking God for recently. Has he already given it to you and you just didn’t notice? Is he calling you to start hacking away parts of your life so you’re free to live intentionally in his purpose? How?

Cheese With My Whine

Working at a church has some perks. One of which is what we call the “desert day”. This is a paid day off to spend with God. I took mine this week since the new baby is eminent, and I’m on the verge of a pre-baby meltdown.

I’m thankful for a lot of things. I tell God that when we pray at my son’s bedtime. Every day I shoot one up that’s “thanks for being so awesome, God.” But when I get these days where he and I can just sit (or walk) and talk, I let loose with all the stuff that’s bugging me. Why God? Why? How? Help!

How awesome would it be if I had a friend like that. I help him out, and support and encourage him. Every day he sends me an email or an IM that says “thanks for being awesome, Mitch.” I won’t lie, that would make me feel pretty good. I like being told I’m awesome. Then we’d sit down and talk when he had time, which is every few months, and talk. But he’d start in on how hard his life is.

“There’s this new baby coming; I don’t know what I’m going to do. My job sucks because they cancelled this message series after I spent all this time on a graphic. What do I do since I disagree with my leadership? Did I mention that a baby’s coming?”

Yeah. Totally not awesome. I’d sit there and shut him out. There he goes again. Whining about how bad life is. What a jerk. His wife is awesome and he has the cutest kid on the planet. His job takes care of him, but that’s not enough.

That “friend” is me, and that’s pretty much how my conversation with God started this morning. I realized how much that must grieve God, and how awful these conversations must be for him. That was enough to shift my thinking, and I started telling God how awesome I thought my life was. I went through what I was thankful for and why. Here’s the quick list:

• My son, Jack (not named after Bauer) is the most awesome kid ever. I love being his dad. His laugh is ridiculously contagious. Bedtime is my favorite part of the day. And when I look into his eyes and see that life; there just aren’t words.
   
• My wife, Leigh, is my reason for living. How I haven’t gotten sick of her after 6 1/2 years, I’ll never know. I love the sillyness and laughter we share. There is never a dull moment. I love that she needs me, and needs me to be there. She’s a good sport about being called “high maintenance” even when she isn’t.
   
• Southeast is very good to me. I respect and love my leaders, even when I disagree with them. I can see that they are just some guys doing their best to do what God has called them to. They don’t know everything, and don’t pretend to. Their experience has earned them the right to stick with their opinions. They make mistakes and they know it, but they do their best.

I’m a Distracted Designer

I am an artist. I create beauty because God has gifted me this way. I can’t help it. Even if I weren’t being paid to design, I would need to create beauty and art anyway. I almost failed Algebra 2 in high school because I spent my time drawing; it’s just my nature. Regardless of where I’m employed, I must make beauty.

All the beauty that I create should inspire worship to the one true God. That was a great eye-opener for me. The purpose of all that I create is to direct worship to God. Never is my focus to be myself, but always God.

My personal mission would be to create art, always, that inspires the worship of God.

I confess. I have become distracted in my mission.

In my heart, I have been chasing my own fame. I want people to see me as an awesome designer. I want to be a trendsetter. I believe the Church should be producing the best art, and I want to be a part of it.

I’m not here to make my name famous. I am here to make God’s name famous. All I do needs to direct attention to him. While I move back into my mission, I will ask myself these questions:

• How will God be viewed through what I create?
• How will this bring his name fame?
• Does this cause people to worship him?
• Why am I doing this; for my name or God’s?

Why Cease and Desist?

A few days ago, I had to send out my first Cease and Desist response because someone was using my/the church’s work without permission and in a way that we we didn’t approve. Since I don’t normally feel like this and am flattered when people want to reuse my work, I feel compelled to explain why.

I got an email through Flickr, from a band in Missouri, asking permission to use the Encounter graphic for their EP that they were releasing.

They included a link to their MySpace page. I popped on over and saw that burning bush image already in use on the page. It’s frustrating that they would think it’s just fine to use an image that doesn’t belong to them on the web without asking permission or even offering credit and then think that print publication is somehow different. This is a common issue that I’ll tackle in a minute.

The main reason for the prohibition is that Encounter wasn’t designed with that use in mind. It’s purpose is to draw people into an encounter with God. The image is part of a teaching tool for pastors and churches, and is currently in use as such. Southeast has been blessed to be able to provide this image and the 30-day Encounter Guide to a few other churches as a spiritual formation and teaching resource.

A lesser but still significant reason, is that the band just isn’t good. Quite frankly, they suck. This may have turned out differently had they actually been a good band, creating music that would draw people closer to God. But their lack of excellence makes their music just noise. it makes them a distraction, and we don’t want Encounter to be associated with that.

Here’s my response to the band:

Though I do appreciate you asking permission to use this graphic for your EP, I see that you are already using it on your MySpace page without the permission of Southeast Christian Church. Using an image online without permission is legally the same as printing an image without permission, and you will need to stop using the Encounter graphic at this time. This is a formal Cease and Desist.

This image was designed for and is currently in use as a resource for churches and pastors. We do not want to make this available outside of sermon series and spiritual formation applications.

Feel free to be inspired by this image, but do not reuse or duplicate it.

Why is all this a big deal?

Because many churches and Christians think that they are above the law because it’s “for God”. We deal with this in our own church even now. We have ministry leads and volunteers who use images from the web without credit, and copying pages out of books without permission. Churches and Christians have a terrible history with the arts. They have long wanted to use art to convey messages, but have many times abused the artist. Christians and churches convince themselves they are being good stewards by bending rules and breaking laws. They don’t allocate funds for the arts, so they want them for free. They feel they deserve them for free, and fail to value the artist. Maybe the churches need to be stewards of the art resources as well as financial resources.

It may sound like I’m beating up churches and Christians here. That’s because I am. I’m not pretending that this doesn’t happen in the corporate world. I’m not saying that non-Christians don’t do this stuff too. But Christians and our churches are called to a higher standard. I’m saying that God expects more.

I confess. I’ve done this. I was one of those that “shared” music back in the day. As I write, I wonder if my church’s attitude toward copyright and the arts had anything to do with that. That they frequently ignored the laws and the rules, so I had no issue with it. Maybe. Regardless, I have learned. I have admitted my guilt and repented. I don’t surf the torrents looking for free shows, movies, software or music. I pay the artist for their work. I let art inspire me rather than ripping it off.

Southeast is getting better. We understand, and we’re changing. There are some stragglers that we’re bringing along, breaking of the “old ways”. We’re lucky to have a worship department assistant who spends massive amounts of time making sure we’re right with the laws. We have a copy room coordinator that takes on the mantle of “bad guy” when ministries don’t have permission. We have artists (my boss and i) that are appreciated and valued.

Are you changing? Is your church changing? What are you/they doing?

Building The Bridge

Several people have asked how I created my image for The Bridge, a new spiritual formation class Southeast is starting this fall. I’ll walk through my process and then through my technique. It is my first tutorial, so bear with me, and let me know if I skip a step that you’d like to know more about.

The Bridge.

I thought this project would be pretty simple since our Easter message this year used the same title and I ended up with two different graphics for it. I could just use the one that hadn’t been used at Easter.

But nooooo…the boss says that we need to use an image of a wooden bridge, not that great suspension bridge shot. I had a few on file, but none were dramatic enough to grab interest, and were used at Easter. Off to iStock where I found this:

It’s a great angle, and my mind started running on what could be done with the title. It would be awesome if it were in the water, and with a few of the tips I picked up at Photoshop World in Las Vegas, I could actually picture how to do this.

The photo didn’t need much treatment on it’s own. It’s high contrast and has some great color, but I wanted a more uplifting color, so I used a gradient adjustment layer (overlay at 50%) to make my blue a little brighter.

Then to Illustrator to build a title treatment. Penumbra Half Serif has a slight roman feel to add formality, but with the consistent weight and strength of a san serif typeface.

Perfect.

The bars on the side are just a letter that’s been modified to taper off at the end. I think it’s an “I”. Now that title needs to look like it’s in the water. Most people would probably prefer to do this step in Photoshop using distort, warp, or perspective. I have problems with those tools on most occasions, because the require me to rasterize the text, and make editing a pain, with the exception of warp, which uses a mesh and curves, and is a pain when I’m just trying to make straight lines. No, this is a job for the 3D>Rotate effect in Illustrator.

The tool is pretty simple to use. It puts your object on the green face of the box, then you move it around so the type is positioned correctly on the water. This is simply “eye-balled”. If it looks good, it’s probably right. I skipped the step of drawing out the vanishing points, and that would probably make this easier. The Rotate dialog also has a slider for perspective, which I love for adding more drama/visual interest. With this positioning, it couldn’t be much, but a little was fine.

Once it felt right, I copied the object and moved back to Photoshop, pasting it as a Smart Object (in case I needed to make tweaks on that Rotate as I continued working; which I did). Now for those Photoshop World tricks. I love these because they weren’t actually taught. They were just some steps the instructors were using on their way to their finished product.

The first was the Displacement Map. I duplicated the image, deleted all my layers except the photo, selected the blue channel (gave me the best contrast) and converted it to grayscale. Then a slight blur so my displacement would be smooth. I saved that out as a psd (important for displacement maps) so I could access it later.

Back to the original image. Filter>Distort>Displacement Map. Since the title treatment was a Smart Object, the displacement map was implemented as a Smart Filter, meaning it could adjusted later (PS World trick). I selected the black and white image I just made as my displacement and set the number on the lower side. I didn’t need too much displacement because the ripples in the water aren’t that big, and I needed to maintain readability.

My last steps were all in the Layer styles menu. I used the Blend If sliders (another PS World trick) to change what was visible. The sliders display or hide based on the intensity of what’s below the layer, so I could make the title visible on the water highlights and hide it on the shadows.

The white of the title would be difficult to see in parts of the water, so I added a slight shadow using the Outer Glow settings (another PS World trick).

Finally, I wanted to see a little more water through the title, so I reduced the fill opacity slightly.

Did I skip a step or need to elaborate more? Just ask.

Part 3: Life to the Full

Most of my thoughts lately have been on this passage in John 10. There is another statement in this passage that may completely revolutionize the way I see my walk with God.

In verse 10 Jesus says:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”

That concept of “life to the full” or “the abundant life” is common in most church circles. Most often it’s interpreted that God will give us a fantastic, amazing life. That everything will be awesome and full of joy. That’s what I always thought about it, too. If good things aren’t happening, I must be doing something wrong.

But how does that interpretation stand up when Jesus says that blessed are those that are persecuted in his name? Or when he says that we will face hardship and persecution?

Most anyone who has walked a few years in this life has experienced it’s ups and downs. There are good days and bad days; wonderful seasons, and painful seasons.

Pain and sorrow are just a part of this sinful world. Some of our pain is consequence for our actions. Some of it is allowed by God so we will let go of our lives. In all of it, God will make his name known.

Somehow those answers to my pain weren’t enough. I felt like I was being punished, or missing a lesson. Then recently, at lunch with a friend, the a new idea emerged; what if the pain we experience is just a part of this “full life” that Jesus promises?

If life without Christ has ups and downs, why would it change to a life full of just ups? Wouldn’t that be the “half full” life? We would be missing out on a completely different experience. It is those down moments that make the highs so beautiful. Peaks wouldn’t be nearly as majestic if there were no valleys.

Life before Christ is full of ups and downs, once you begin walking with Jesus, those ups and downs become more dramatic. This life with Jesus allows for much greater joy than I’ve ever experienced without him. The ups in my life are much, much bigger. On the flip-side, the downs are much lower. I’ve experienced some of my most painful seasons while being a follower of Jesus.

What if “life to the full” means that at the peaks, we are capable of so much more joy, and conversely, in the valleys, much deeper sorrow? Higher highs, lower lows and more dynamic in between sounds like a full life and a richer experience to me.

What do you think?

Sheep: Part 2

In part one I posited that all of us are sheep, and we all follow a shepherd. The only question was which shepherd. Jesus called himself the good shepherd because he laid down his life for the sheep. That makes him worth following.

In The Alchemist, the protagonist ponders why his sheep follow him. He could take any new route to a pasture, and they would not notice. All they care about is food and water. They don’t see the big picture, nor do they care. He could slaughter them one by one, and they would not notice until most of the flock was gone. They trust him with their lives.

Sheep follow their shepherd at the expense of their instinct. The longer they are with their shepherd, the less and less they rely on themselves or their own judgement. They become incapable of making their own decisions and lose touch with their instinct as their trust in the shepherd increases.

If sheep follow the shepherd at the expense of instinct or judgement, is that how we should follow Christ? Proverbs 3:5 says that we should trust in God, and not rely on our “own understanding”. Should our trust in him be so great, that we no longer rely on our own instinct, judgement or nature? Is that what he wants from us?

Absolutely.

Jesus wants us to follow him like sheep. He wants us to trust him with our lives (our bigger pictures) and our primary concerns (food and water). He loves us and laid his life down for us. He sees all our pastures and knows which ones are the best. He may be taking us on new routes or to new pastures and we don’t see it. His plan and path for us is decided by his love for us. That’s why we follow him, and why we should follow him so intensely.

How do we know we’re following our shepherd? Again, in John 10, Jesus says that his sheep follow the shepherd because “they know his voice.” That is something that many of Jesus’ sheep forget, or avoid. They struggle with the idea of hearing his voice they will say they can’t hear it. The sheep just sit there, like they’re deaf, and wait for him to come kick them before they start moving.

I read that passage to say that if you are a follower of Jesus, you hear his voice. That it’s not possible to be a follower of Jesus if you don’t hear his voice. Think about it, how else would you know where he is going?

Finally, be sure not to fall of the other end of this. That of no responsibility. Jesus can take you to the pasture, but you still have to graze. There is an element of your health that depends on you.

How are you following the good shepherd?

Sheep: Part 1

For a long time, I’ve thought that people, in general, are sheep. I was sort of anti-pop culture at the time, and it was an easy jab to call people sheep. They follow whatever MTV or the media as a whole deems good and “cool”. I may have been righter than I thought.

These thoughts came up again as I was listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (the audiobook). The protagonist is a shepherd and is pondering why his sheep follow him. He decides that they follow him because he provides for their primary concerns of food and water.

Most of us walk through our lives, preoccupied with our primary concerns, and who or what will take care of those. Maybe a new job, more money, or even a new president. Our focus is set on the immediate and rarely do we consider the pasture or how we got there. We have no concern for the bigger picture. We are sheep.

If we are sheep, then we all follow a shepherd. None of us really know what’s going on, so we all follow those that give us answers. Sometimes it’s a religious leader, that new presidential candidate, a philosopher or even just popular culture. We follow.

Jesus seems to know that all people are sheep. In John 10, he refers to his audience (the Jews) as sheep, then talks about sheep that are in “another pen” (Gentiles, perhaps), and he tells the religious leaders of the day that they do not follow him because they are not his sheep (but sheep nonetheless).

In that same chapter, Jesus calls himself a shepherd. Some of us choose to follow him because he gave up his life for all of us.
“The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Jesus is the good shepherd because he loves all sheep enough to lay down his life for them. That love makes him worth following.

If we are all sheep, and we all follow a shepherd, our only real choice, or maybe just the most important one, is which shepherd? A real shepherd who deserves to be followed, or just another sheep?

What about you? What shepherd do you follow?