Like many churches, University Presbyterian Church focuses on one thematic sermon series for Lent (the 6 weeks leading up to Easter Sunday). It's often paired this with a weekly small group study.
My team created assets to reflect the sermon series, as well as 4 additional service types during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday.
Deliverables
• Series graphics
• Local advertising—social and print
• A study guide for small groups to use
• Materials for Small Group Leader Training
• Video content (shared in services and online)
• Print bulletins (to support a total of 33 worship services in this season)
We worked within tight deadlines and low budgets.
• Local advertising—social and print
• A study guide for small groups to use
• Materials for Small Group Leader Training
• Video content (shared in services and online)
• Print bulletins (to support a total of 33 worship services in this season)
We worked within tight deadlines and low budgets.
The Client
University Presbyterian Church
My Role
Communications Director
a mix between art director,
strategic communications, project
manager, and production designer
a mix between art director,
strategic communications, project
manager, and production designer
The Team
Graphic Illustrator (freelance)
Writers (volunteers)
Video Producer (staff)
Communications Coordinator (staff)
Print Coordinator (staff)
Writers (volunteers)
Video Producer (staff)
Communications Coordinator (staff)
Print Coordinator (staff)
Study Guide + Groups
We ran a campaign through email, in-service announcements, building signage, word of mouth, and social campaigns to encourage small group participation during this season.
It's been a long-standing tradition at the church to join groups for this season, and some groups go on to meet regularly throughout the year.
More than 1,200 people signed up to join more than 90 groups; we ran 2 small group leader trainings with 150 group leaders.
We offered the Study Guide in multiple formats for a wide variety of users: printed booklet, large print, web, and mobile.
Additional Assets
The Lent series graphics and the Study Guide needed to connect with the Holy Week graphics. I kept an eye on overall coordination, alignment, and legibility—while my freelance designer put together the assets themselves.
In my hybrid role, I served as both an art director and a production designer, often creating print layouts or preparing email newsletters myself.
We hosted 33 services between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday and each one included a variety of strategic communications.
Listening to Sermons
For the Lent series (and every sermon series throughout the year), we pushed audio and video files of each sermon to the app the day after it was preached live.
This was especially helpful because the Study Guide was also available through the app.
The UPC App
I maintained and updated our stand-alone app on a weekly basis.
While many of our users said they wanted a hardcopy of the Study Guide, many others used their phones to read or reference their Bible while in services or in their groups.
For these users, we offered a digital format for the Study Guide and a space to take notes.
Measuring Success
Our wider executive team had only recently begun to intentionally track weekly attendance and giving. Sure, separate teams were tracking these kinds of things, but together is where we were able to really see the impact of a campaign like this.
Success couldn't be measured solely in donated dollars, or weekly service attendance, or small group attendance. In looking at things I did measure regularly, I saw a slight increase in our email newsletter's open rate, in the click rate, and in the number of small group participants.
What I Learned about UX
This was before I knew much about UX, but we did gather input from users to understand which versions of the Study Guide they wanted—printed booklet, the large print version, the print-at-home version on 8.5x11" paper, the read-it-online version, or the mobile/app version. With a huge variety of users (from teens to folks in their 90s; tech-savvy and tech-illiterate), I think we ended up offering too many options. If I did it again, I'd do a wider survey ahead of time and to see if my team could focus our efforts on fewer delivery methods.
What I Learned About Myself
I have a keen eye for details when it comes to typography and legibility. Others on my team had a great eye for illustration. Together, it created editorial and visual clarity. I enjoy Art Direction/Creative Direction, where I can bring together the strengths of a team, align visual deliverables to strategic objectives, making data-driven design decisions.
