18 Mar, 2008
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Posted by: James Laws In: The Art of the Talk
Many of you know that I work full-time as a web and graphic designer. It is amazing to me how much I have learned about being a communicator in the church from this profession. A perfect example is font styles. When I design a project I spend a great deal of time choosing the perfect font. You may ask, “How important are fonts in a design really?” Perhaps an example would work best here.
Take a quick look at this banner. What is you first impression? What does it say as you look at it really fast. I almost drove off the road the first time I saw it.
Fonts determine whether a message is clear or confusing, simple or complicated. When you choose a font in a design project you have to ask yourself if the font enhances the design or distracts from it. The font you choose can make the difference between a message people embrace or one that is rejected, or worse yet, stood against.
What does this have to do with me or you as a communicator at our specific churches. Words are like the fonts that represent them. We can choose to be complicated and show how smart we are or we can choose to be simple and make our messages accessible. We can choose to use insider terminology and make people feel disconnected or we can use illustrations from the world we all share and unite our audience in a common journey.
It’s not so much what you say as it is how you say it.
