First Christian Church of National City was founded in 1955 and has witnessed decades of change in its surrounding neighborhood. With a predominantly Latino and Filipino congregation, FCCNC is a reflection of its surrounding neighborhood, seeking to serve members of the community by participating in various service projects in National City, hosting one of the largest food banks in South Bay, and supporting other church plants throughout San Diego County.
Roles
Art Direction
Copywriting
Brand Strategy
Social Media
Photography
Illustration
Hand-Lettering
Occasional Tagalog and Spanish translation
Volunteer Coordinator for Adventure Point children's ministry
Copywriting
Brand Strategy
Social Media
Photography
Illustration
Hand-Lettering
Occasional Tagalog and Spanish translation
Volunteer Coordinator for Adventure Point children's ministry
Brand Attributes
The heart of First Christian Church of National City is a celebration of community and connection through diversity. In the initial stage of brand development, as a one-woman team, I consulted with members of the board leadership that included elders, deacons, youth and lead ministers as well as lead volunteers in children's and music ministries to understand the vision for FCCNC's growth continued role in supporting and serving the ever-changing community of National City.
I compiled a set of descriptors to reference throughout the design process and summarize the overall vision for FCCNC's brand:
energy
encouragment
authenticity
inspiration
unity
Final Logo
Final logo design
Logo variations including the entire name of the organization and the abbreviation, with and without taglines.
Children's Ministry Logo
First Christian Church of National City believes that nurturing families within its surrounding neighborhood begins with changing the approach to childcare. We named the children's ministry Adventure Point and created a separate logo to legitimize faith-based childcare as an integral part of nurturing families, rather than an afterthought during Sunday services.
Adventure Point serves families with children 0–10 years old during the Sunday morning services. Background-checked volunteers and a childcare specialist provide safe, engaging, and age-appropriate programming while parents participate in services in the same building.
Final Adventure Point Logo
Since 2019, Adventure Point has been serving the greater San Diego area throughout the week, becoming an accredited early childhood learning center under California’s HeadStart Program.
Brand Elements
Color
These colors are established to communicate and maintain the integrity of the FCC brand across print, digital, and environment applications. The four main brand colors are mostly used to represent the FCCNC logo, tagline, and auxiliary Adventure Point Children's Ministry logo. Additional, secondary brand colors were selected to support legibility and ground the vibrant colors with warmth.
Main Brand Colors
Supporting Colors
Typography
The Sweet Sans typeface is a warm, versatile, humanist sans-serif inspired by engraver's templates from the 1900s and adapted for wide-ranging uses within modern-day print and digital landscapes. The variety of weights and postures within the Sweet Sans family made it easy for office personnel to maintain the FCC brand even within word processing software. The legibility improved for everyday communications such as sermon outlines, lesson plans, meeting notes—most of which were produced with Microsoft Word and the sole office photo copier.
Sweet Sans Pro Regular
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
Sweet Sans Pro Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
Sweet Sans Pro Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890!@#$%^&*( )
Print Applications
Bulletin shells were left blank on the other side so staff could easily update information in English, Tagalog, and Spanish with Microsoft Word.
Connect Cards helped kept leadership updated on individual needs of the congregation.
Offering envelopes were designed to keep prying eyes off the offering plate; they also perfectly held Connect Cards.
Annual congregation-wide meetings discussed church finances and goals in granular detail; these single-page reports are handed out during these meetings to help church members visualize the data.
FCCNC's culture-building chart, usually referenced in paper or digital form during leadership meetings.
A close-up of the call-to-actions FCCNC's culture tries to address.
T-Shirts
Congregation member and food bank volunteer, Richard, personalized his shirt!
Childcare specialist, Maria, is easy to spot in her Adventure Point tee! Volunteers and employees are encouraged to wear their shirts for visibility.
Photography
A budget for stock visuals and assets was non-existent, I made it a point to go outside the church building with my camera to create FCCNC's proprietary image library. Avoiding images of the preacher's pulpit and rock-concert worship services in favor of candid shots of staff, congregants, volunteers, and neighbors emphasizes First Christian Church’s focus on caring for the surrounding community throughout the week; not just on Sundays.
Seasonal and Monthly Activities
First Christian Church's schedule of community events, small group study curriculum, Sunday morning programming, and social media messaging are determined by seasonal themes (Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, etc).
Beginning with Sunday morning services, a specific topic would be the main focus anywhere between 4–12 weeks. Small group studies, youth activities, service projects, and other activities throughout the week help individuals remain connected and supported throughout the week in applying these lessons in daily life.
Interpreting the seasonal themes throughout the year involved designing presentation slides for the lead pastor's sermons, social media posts, and any additional digital or print applications needed for the season. Art direction for sermon series and seasonal themes was an opportunity to experiment with different design techniques while remaining within FCCNC brand guidelines.
Sermon Presentation Title Slides
For decades, Sunday services relied on Microsoft Powerpoint to display announcements, song lyrics, and sermon visuals until 2014, when the switch was made to ProPresenter. Additional features such as expanded multimedia support, integrated Biblical texts, and superior live-editing improved the overall worship experience.
Here's a selection of personal favorites:
