New Life Church - Sean McCarthy

Creating the first identity system for a 30-year-old megachurch.

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Involvement

Brand Identity
Art Direction
Website Design
Graphic Design
Communication & Marketing Strategy

Overview

New Life Church is a Colorado family of neighborhood congregations. I was the first in-house designer on staff with no existing guidelines to follow. So I set forward to build a new logo, identity system, website, and visual guidelines to help shape a new direction for the 30-year-old megachurch.

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Refreshing the Logo

When designing the new logo, I had to take into consideration the sensitivity and transition New Life Church was experiencing from losing its founding pastor and gaining a new leader. Like any great logo, it should identify rather than communicate, so the new logomark is made up of two existing and most notable physical characteristics—the 'cupola', and the shape of their flagship building.

Identity System

With six current locations and multiple other expressions of New Life Church—including ministries and conferences—the logomark is the most important visual asset in the system. It gives the audience a single, simple, and memorable symbol to associate with the church. I also utilized the carrier shape (hexagon) subtly for all endorsed conferences and icons to strengthen the relationship back to New Life Church.

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Art Direction

Along with needing a refreshing logo, New Life Church's visual communications were scattered and inconsistent. I helped build a visual style guide to be the north star before starting any future projects and help the staff, volunteers, and contractors understand the importance of consistent visual communication. The guide provided brand consistency for two main website designs, launching new locations, marketing campaigns, establishing new conferences, and ministry initiatives.