anatomy of setting up a stage design...

I use everything that I am able to find to create the stage design each week. I snag tech carts and items from the school (this week I used the conductors platform). These items get covered with cloth and VOILA!

It may seem silly, but I am very excited. There is a large gray metal cart, that I use frequently to lift things up in stage designs. Well this week, the marvelous Emily Firestone made a custom cover (she calls it a tablecloth. LOL) that I just slip onto the cart now. Woot! Woot! I am doing a happy dance!
I look forward to using it...

You can barely even see in the pictures, but we added a dark blue net material to the design. It looks nice and flow-ie...

First, I have to say that I really like our banners.

Nobody asked; BUT if someone HAD asked, I probably would have asked for matte finish on the banners (note the lights that reflect off of the shiny, slick fronts of the banners).

I also would have staggered the designs. One towards to top, one towards the middle and one towards the bottom.

No biggie, it is something that we are able to work with.

That's what it looked like today; now it's about time to go back for Core Community, After which we will strike the stage set and band equipment. We will load it all up again in the trailer, drive it back to the office and in 7 days, we will do it all over again.

love God, love others...

Our current series is "love God, love others, serve the world" We are trying to brand this purpose statement in people's minds. Last week we were focused on "love God"...

An advantage to being mobile, is that you don't feel locked into a stage design once it is set up. Since the stage has to be struck each and every week, you feel more freedom in tweeking the design.

We want to keep the purpose statement in order, and each week bring to the forefront the portion being discussed.
This week we are focused on "love others"...
So that banner was rasied higher.
And I utilize whatever I am able to find to work with.
For example last week and this week, I used the tech carts to lift the banners higher. I also used the containers that the drums are stored in. LOL. Then I have to furiously take everything down so the techs and band are able to reach their carts.

when does a logo need to evolve?

Starbucks & XC. Time for a logo change?
Here I go, probably going to get myself in trouble again. It’s time to re-evaluate our XC logo.
Starbucks has cause all sorts of ruckus with it's announcement of a new changed logo yesterday.
But I like it, I get it.

I personally have felt it has been time to re-evaluate XC’s logo for awhile now.

Colors need to be updated?

Is text is bang-on?

Font needs to be updated?

Does it reflect who we have become?

There are ways to update it and not change the overall concept.

Let me be clear, here are just my personal thoughts…

Color palette needs to be updated from 1980’s to a more current color palette.

Keep the X and add the C into the graphic. That is what more people are actually calling ourselves now.
Minimize, lighten in color the Minimize, lighten in color the CROSSCURRENT to the size and color of the Ministries. Keep the all caps &  add .org (?)

Point: It is interesting; our old school people still abbreviate our church C.C., while most of the newer people and groups use X.C. See they are actually picking up the X in our logo, it seems to reflect who we are currently.

Please note: I am NOT a graphic artist, so this is just a conceptual picture, not an accurate example.

Changing a logo – pros and cons

lessons learned

This is probably poorly worded and not in enough detail. But here goes...

I’ve run into this lesson before.
Not to accept a stage design that falls outside of my skill sets.
The idea was to take a 9-12 week teaching series and link it all together with a large crossword puzzle on stage.

The intro week was “God in a Box. Intentionally Left Blank.” The stage design was a completely empty stage with only a floating box with light emanating from it.

The following week - we added the crossword puzzle. Starting with God-in-a-box and adding key words to the crossword puzzle as each week progressed.
First, when it came down to brass tacks (implementation of the crossword puzzle), I was left (the night before) with a massive project that fell way outside of my skill sets.

Second, then we had branding conflicts. This links back to the previous post. When the logo was created & chosen the stage design and logo didn’t “brand” together so the stage design didn’t make any sense.

Ugh! So for the first time, I am seriously contemplating the decision to pull the stage idea.
Now I am left with about 5-6 weeks of having no idea what is going to happen with the stage design.

On the other hand, I also resolve to learn more skills.

Lessons learned:
Sometimes you have to not hear what people are saying and recognize what they are doing (follow-through)

Key players need to be together when designing so that the integrity of the branding, design and elements all flow together.

creativity in our DNA...

CrossCurrent has had creativity in our DNA from our inception. We design to have some sort of a creative element each weekend.

The way that we are currently design our creative elements is we host an “open” brainstorming session.
Teaching pastors give us the synopsis for the various weekends in that quarter.
We worship and pray. Everyone then “pop-corns” ideas up on paper for the various weeks.
We highlight the ones that get the most traction (ooohhs and ahhhs).
Then at later sessions, we choose from those highlighted ideas and create our order of service.

We anticipated a learning curve.

This previous quarters brainstorming sessions has draw attention to some opportunities for modification.
IMHO the glitch is occurring when the production people from the various teams haven’t been able to attend these brainstorming sessions. Maintaining the integrity of the creative element packages gets lost in translation.

Lessons learned: All critical teams need to be in attendance, creative or not. Teaching pastors, media, lighting, sound, producers, drama, writers, dance, stage, etc. Then feed in other people that want to be able to be involved in the creative process. Since the production teams are doing the heavy lifting in the actual implementation of these ideas.