5 Steps to Make a Church Stylesheet
by Megan Forgey, Communications Consultant
Your church likely has multiple website editors, social media administrators, and others creating printed and online materials. Having a stylesheet keeps the brand and voice of your church consistent even while multiple people are creating interconnected church materials. Check out these tips for making a stylesheet for your church.
Start here:
Think about your church’s brand, or simply put the story that your brand puts forth. Who is your audience and what are you trying to communicate to them? Does their age inform what kind of content they will be most receptive to? Will certain design elements be counterproductive to your brand? Focus on your church’s mission, vision, target audience, brand personality and core values.
Read more:
This brand style guide from Venngage is meant for tech companies but is a great walk-through to making a brand strategy.
Here are five aspects to consider in making your church stylesheet.
1. Font Family
Picking a font or family of fonts creates a distinct clarity and through-line in all of your church’s communications. Try to choose a font that is available on many different platforms, like Google, Microsoft, and any graphic design tools you use like Canva.
2. Colors/Theme
Once you have a logo made up (check out our workshop in March on logos), you can easily make a color scheme from these central colors. These are useful for website design, social media posts, and other marketing assets. However, don’t be afraid to play with colors with different liturgical seasons, holidays, etc.
3. Imagery
These guidelines are most commonly used for social media images. Writing out a few sentences on guidelines for images will make it easier to pick images and make graphics that coincide with your mission and overall voice.
4. Voice/Tone
Crafting a tone for your church communications is fairly easy to do as one-person, but once your team expands or the Rector/Minister becomes involved in communications, can get a bit skewed. This is where your expertise as a church communicator is especially valuable– and where you analyze closely who your target audience is and how they are best communicated with. For example, some parishes like a more authoritative and informational style of communication, while other parishes are fonder of a conversational tone.
5. Style Guides
The Episcopal Church Style Guide (addresses titles of clergy) is a great starting point for episcopal churches. You may also choose to adhere to Associated Press style or the Chicago Manual of Style for certain grammar and spelling aspects. These are the two most commonly used style and usage guides, and are constantly updated.