st. james united methodist church rebrand

background

St. James is part of the United Methodist Church worldwide and has been an integral part of the Bellevue, Nebraska community for more than 59 years. St. James is defined by its diverse congregation and multi-pronged approach to worship, ministry and mission.

challenge

Wanting to establish a more distinctive, unified “face” given their dual locations, St. James enlisted the help of David Day Associates to design and develop a striking new brand identity, a clear and concise tagline and a highly-functional, contemporary website.

 

St. James leaders envisioned a brand identity that would appeal to a broad demographic yet maintain a visual connection to the United Methodist Church mother brand. Similarly, the church set a goal to have a new website that appeals to visitors and young adults but is also functional for those already active in the congregation. One that is easily adapted as new social media and web technologies become available.

solution

brand identity

before

St. James United Methodist Church

after

Before beginning any creative work, our team conducted preliminary research to determine who St. James United Methodist Church is, why it exists and why it matters. Then, working together with members of the congregation at St. James, we crafted the tagline, “Open Arms, Warm Heart.” “Open Arms” embodies the church’s mission to serve others in the community and to reach out with open arms. “Warm Heart” supports the church’s website URL warmheart.org, and also pays tribute to the past, honoring their previous tagline, “The Church with a Warm Heart.” In addition, “Warm Heart” symbolizes the warmth and friendliness of the church community and the meaningful bonds between congregants.

 

We incorporated the newly-minted tagline into a striking new brand identity that fully embodies the beliefs and values held by those at St. James. The trademark features a pictogram of a “blooming flame” which represents an unfolding, ever-awakening faith centered in Christ. It also celebrates the church’s two campuses and worship styles. The blue color represents the “Open Arms” piece of the brand promise while the red supports “Warm Heart.” The logotype is carefully balanced giving strong emphasis to “St. James,” resting on the “foundation” of the “United Methodist Church” typography.

 

With the tagline and brand identity in place, we turned our attention to digital and designed and developed a fully-customized WordPress website for St. James. The website is fully responsive, built to support the streaming of audio and video clips, and completely scalable so staff can easily modify the website as needs change.

 

As the refreshed brand came to life online, church leadership decided their environment needed a touch of the new brand as well. Incorporating their brand identity, we designed a striking new donor wall that serves as a focal point upon entry into one of their locations.

impact

Though they have multiple locations and worship styles, with their distinctive new brand identity and functional website, St. James is truly united.