If you use image mag, or have any type of screen in your service, then chances are you are running an application that displays your different ministry opportunities throughout your church. We use keynote and up until recently we have sucked the life out of every possible keynote animation there is to make these pre-roll graphics come to life. You know what I’m talking about. These animations or stills loop. Then they loop some more. And then, they loop again. Turn off your cell phones, welcome to our church, come to this, come to that type of information. Some churches call it “pre-roll”, for us we call it “the quips”.
Recently, our team has been talking and discussing a lot about the design direction around these pre-service graphics. The requests can be last minute and they often time involve lots and lots of information, not enough information, or not a lot of direction. Then it dawned on me, there has never been a design strategy for the pre-roll graphics. We have just been relying on designers to make, well, great designs that have all the info needed without any filters.
Here are the questions we are asking:
1 - Bulletin = information. Pre-roll graphic = identity. How can we help people connect the two for a specific ministry?
2 - How can we design more ads? Campaigns? Think billboards. (ex: Got Milk?)
3 - Can the pre-roll graphics be non-animated? People should not have to wait for information.
4 - Great designs add value to the event and/or ministry. Poor designs = don’t care. Are we putting enough time into making these great designs?
5 - What information is critical? Where is the one place we want them to go? What is their next step? Is it even needed in some designs?
6 - Create designs people connect with. It’s not just about putting a logo on the screen and sending them somewhere. What is compelling them to act?
We would love to know, what is your strategy?
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 am
I totally agree with you. Most people have learned to ignore most of the ‘traditional’ (used to be a new thing) forms of communication. We wanted to improve what we do by making sure that all graphics match in style between formats, but this has only seemed to succeed in making these slides more ‘invisible’. I will be watching this space with interest to see what you guys, and other contributors, come up with.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I am new to the game of Graphic Design, so I don’t have huge advice on this subject, but I totally agree with No. 4. Thanks for the post Brad.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Last year fr our sports teams we made ESPN magazine covers with the captains on the cover. The little headlines were the specifics for the different teams. They looked great and got more people to pay attention than a simple text slide announcing a game or practice.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Have been thinking about this a little. There is a section on ESPN where the main stories of the day are covered. I have only seen it a couple of times, but basically there is a column of boxes on the right of the screen that contain single word headlines for each story and every 30/60 seconds the buzzer sounds and the commentators have to move on to the next subject. A similar format is used on the front page of espn.com with a main screen and smaller thumbnails of each subject under the screen. Incorporating this format into ‘the quips’ might make it interesting. Small thumbnails of each slide across the bottom or side of the screen that highlight as each slide rotates through. At a glance people will be able to see every item that is going to be shown on the loop, and may even wait for an item of interest to come around so they can get more info. We may give this idea a try and see how it works out.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:13 am
i know this may sound tedious and time consuming, but i take all of our graphics, and their layers, and form a 10-15 second animation with them through AE. i render them as an mov. and then apply them to the slides in propresenter. then, as you guys know, you can time them and then loop them. i’m not sure if this addresses the main them of the blog, but i think it does add some pop and flare that may draw attention to the screens during the pre-service time.
by the way, i’m new to the site and i love it.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I know I’m a little late to the game on this post, but I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now. While I think “Ten Before” kills quips in terms of effectiveness, the quips tend to meet another need.
Here’s my theory:
Quips as a form of interruption marketing are pretty near useless. It doesn’t matter what you do to them. Just like the magnet’s on your fridge, after a while they will be ignored. The way you truly interrupt people is through variety. If I came up and tapped you on the shoulder, chances are you’d turn around and interact with me. I saw a little girl the other day constantly tugging on her mom’s skirt saying “Mom…Mom…Mom…” totally being ignored. I’m guessing that wasn’t the first time she attempted to get her mother’s attention that way. People only notice significant changes. The problem with quips is they don’t “Significantly” change. However going from no quips to quips one week, that’s a little more significant.
Second, I hate to say it, but I’m not a big fan of the new bulletin system. (At least at Buckhead Church. Not sure if it’s for all 3 campuses.) Half the time I still accept them because they’re being shoved in my hand each week, but I hardly ever read them. At least before, they’d contain the semi-useful information of who was leading worship that week. A question that needs to be asked is… Is print really the most effective way to communicate upcoming events? If so, is a bulletin the best platform?
You’re totally on the right path that interruption and information belong in two distinct locations. What works well for interruption, “Got Milk?” is hardly the place to list nutritional data.
Frankly, I’m surprised you’ve read this far, but while it still might need a little tweaking, here’s my master plan… (insert evil laugh)
INTERRUPTION
1. List all of the demographics that announcements fall into, (Married, Single, Parents, In Small Group, Volunteer Teems, etc.) and where possible put them in a hierarchy (Single small groups, Married no kids small groups, Married with kids small group, etc. all fall under people in small groups.)
2. Brainstorm ALL the ways you can interrupt people. (Quips, announcements through small group leaders, Ten Before, Kidstuf Take-Out, stick a billboard on top of the church or at least a seriously oversized sign in the entrance area, etc.)
3. See where the people from 1. overlap with interruption points in 2. Make sure to have at least a couple of ways to interrupt each demographic.
4. Rotate. The words to remember are “Don’t usually.” Don’t usually have quips. Don’t usually have a giant sign when I walk in the door. Don’t usually have a handout when I walk into the sanctuary. Don’t usually have my small group leader interrupt me with an announcement.
The one last thing I would add to interruption is to not be afraid who will see the announcements. Obviously an announcement in a single’s small group probably isn’t the place for a Married Life event, but a large sign in the lobby announcing the production team’s upcoming 24 hour film festival might just get some talented people interested in joining the production team. Don’t be afraid to highlight some of the smaller things the church does. At the very least it makes it seem a little more interactive.
INFORMATION
There needs to be ONE source for information, and it needs to be painfully obvious what that source is.
“Sarah, where were those details about that Married Life Live? Were they in the bulletin or in an email?” Not what you want people asking. I didn’t get very long to play with them, and they could not doubt be improved, but Willow Creek’s interactive info kiosks certainly seemed interesting. The nice thing about them is that it can all be a very simple (design, not coding) web page, which in turn makes it portable when people are away from the church. Organization is key here. Perhaps something almost RSS like, in that you can subscribe to just the details you need. Side note: This isn’t designed to replace the Information table. It blows my mind, but some extroverts would rather ask a question to another person than look it up any day.
Whatever it is, it needs to be in one easy to find, well-defined location.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:39 am
Good post Daniel