Inspire Growth

In a previous post I mentioned how I had begun working long-distance on a new brochure for Málaga Media Center (MMC).

Well, the deadlines are fast upon us and I’m working like crazy to get something brilliant finished before Monday. In times like these I need inspiration, yet I haven’t necessarily felt as inspired as I would hope. It seems like I have a case of designer’s block.. almost like I’ve reached the end of what I feel inspired to do and the rest is just feeling my way through one thing at a time until hopefully I get the brilliant solution I’m seeking.

The overwhelming theme for the brochure is Growth. More directly, Church growth, and our desire as a ministry to inspire this growth in the cultures we reach through our media.

How to communicate this effectively to our target audience (potential new recruits) is the focus of my work. A brochure can explain everything with text alone yet not be in the least bit interesting, or even if it is interesting, it could be too overwhelming to grasp. I’m hoping to draw the focus away from the text-based brochure and introduce something new and different (yes, shoot me now for daring to be different!). Overall, I want to produce a design that will draw one’s attention and keep it long enough for them to pick up and read the brochure, and maybe even decide that this ministry is a perfect fit for them.

So.. Where will we end up? Hopefully with a great design that even looks good printed! The printing process is always the part that I dislike the most about graphic design. With this project it will be especially hard to control the printing outcome, since it will be printed in Spain and I’m still a world away. I know that designing for print is a weakness of mine; just one more weakness to lay at His feet and trust that things will work out for good.

In the Bible study book I’m going through, I read this advice:

Make the choice to accept your feelings of inadequacy as a weakness and to lean on God’s strength.

At the very least, this project is an opportunity for me to grow (yes, there’s that word again), both in my faith and in my abilities as a designer. I want to be the best I can be; I’m always a bit too much of a perfectionist, and it’s hard to admit that I don’t know everything about something, or that I’m not the best at what I’m doing. Stretching and growing in character is not a fun thing, but it usually makes one stronger on the other side.

So, until His power is made perfect in my weakness, I will continue plugging on and hopefully regain that inspiration I’m needing to complete this project.

Lord, inspire growth. Inspire the growth of your Church through missionary efforts like MMC, and inspire growth in me, that I might daily depend on You.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 2:52 am and is filed under General, MMC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.