Try to have faith in the reasons behind a redesign

I read with interest your piece Church on a Brand and a Prayer (DW 3 July), having rebranded the church that I attend for a fee some way below The Field’s £50 000.

It being an independent church meeting in a local secondary school, I was free of the encumbrance of Anglo-Catholic iconic relics, and as a lively, growing church I did not feel that our future survival depended on the success of my creative efforts.

But the new identity did need to have a contemporary appeal to people outside of the church, as well as inside, and work across as broad a media landscape as any multinational brand.

The one consideration that was not discussed in your article, however, and which, sadly for the creative, but realistically is often the case, is that few churches have the resources to support a communication department or a brand guardian.

Therefore, the logo has to survive the ravishes of the church office copier, the colour-blind administrator’s choice of paper for the weekly news-sheet and the Ladies Meeting’s best efforts with the scissors and cow gum.

Simon Barbato is doubtless correct in saying that, ‘The best ambassadors for the church are the congregation’, but as with any organisation it takes more than a logo to unite them and create a strong sense of purpose and belonging.

Also tastes and opinions of a new identity vary. And just how to use it can as easily be divisive. But we are in fact held together by stronger stuff.

Carl Harris

Partner

El Pea

Leamington Spa CV31 1QF