01 Concept of identity
A church is just an empty vessel. It becomes whatever the people who fill it make it.
Different moments from different people's lives and perspectives, coming together in harmony.
Logo
Primary
Stacked
Circular
Arch
Minimal marks
Profile logos
For social profile pictures and avatars, where the platform crops to a circle.
Colour
Primary palette
Deep green
Warm ivory
Stone
The primary palette may be used on any asset. It is the only palette permitted for evergreen assets.
Term palettes
Autumn Term
Start of September to end of December.Damson
Bracken
Ochre
Oat
Spring Term
January to Easter Sunday.Moss
Sage
Easter Gold
Primrose
Summer Term
Easter Sunday to end of August.Lake
Coral
Sky
Sand
Kids Church
All year, for Kids Church assets only.Ink Navy
Crayon Red
Grass
Butter
Term palettes are only for disposable, date specific assets such as posters and design assets that fall within their dates. They must never be used for permanent assets: permanent signs, permanent installations or anything evergreen.
- In each term palette the anchor colour works as text on Warm ivory.
- The ground colour takes Deep green text.
- Accent colours are for display type and shapes only, never body text.
Do
Use the Autumn Term palette on a poster for a Harvest supper in October.
Use the Kids Church palette on a Kids Church craft sheet at any time of year.
Don't
Use a term palette on a permanent welcome sign or a noticeboard header.
Use the Summer Term palette on a Christmas carol service flyer.
Which palette can I use?
What kind of asset?
Date of use
You may use
Typography
Brand typeface
Cormorant Garamond Regular
Available from Google Fonts. Licensed under the SIL Open Font License.
Download Cormorant GaramondAa
Character set
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789
.,;:!?'"()[]{}&@#%*+£$€…
Regular 400 scale
In use
A church is just an empty vessel.
Different moments from different people's lives and perspectives, coming together in harmony.
Stamp
Click anywhere to place the stamp
Click the canvas to place the stamp. Each one lands with a slight random rotation. Clear removes them all.
Photography style
Why we shoot like this
A disposable camera cannot flatter anyone. It has one lens, one flash and no second takes. What it catches is simply what was there: a cup mid pour, a coat half off, a laugh before anyone thought to arrange their face. That is the honesty we want.
Our identity begins with an empty vessel. The building, drawn finely in our mark, stays constant. What changes it is the people who fill it. So we never photograph the church as an achievement in stone. We photograph what happens inside it: the ordinary, unrepeatable moments that turn a room into a home.
The flash finds whoever is nearest and lets the room fall away behind them. Each frame holds one life and one point of view. Together the series becomes what a congregation is: many different people, held in the same warm light.
Grain, light leaks and soft focus are not nostalgia for its own sake. They are the marks of a moment that was lived rather than staged. They ask nothing of the people in them except that they are there, which is all a church has ever asked.
The look
Late 90s disposable camera and Polaroid. Warm, grainy, honest, never posed.
Do
- 1Shoot the people and not the building.
- 2Shoot what people make of the space: setting up, sharing, singing, leaving together.
- 3Mix ages and lives in one frame: young and old, newcomers and regulars.
- 4Catch the moments between moments: the laugh after the joke, the hand passing the cup.
- 5Use direct on camera flash, a bright foreground falling quickly into dark, and keep the grain and warm cast.
- 6Frame imperfectly. Tilts, cropped heads and soft focus are welcome.
- 7Ask adults for consent before close portraits, and honour anyone who opts out.
- 8Photograph children from behind, at a distance or as hands and details. No identifiable children's faces without parental consent.
Don't
- 1No empty architectural hero shots beyond the one opener.
- 2No posed groups or stock photo smiles.
- 3No flash during prayer, communion or quiet reflection unless the church has agreed it.
- 4No clean digital sharpness or cool, teal grading.
- 5No readable text or logos as the subject.
- 6No publishing close ups of any adult who has not agreed to it.
- 7No fake borders, grain or light leaks added in editing. Get them in camera.
Brand usage
Our identity is a vessel. Keep the frame still and let the people fill it.
Logos
Pick the version that fits the space, then leave it as drawn.
Placement and clear space
Keep a margin the height of the capital S in "ST STEPHEN" clear on every side.
Harvest supper this Sunday
Minimum size
Below these sizes, step down to a smaller version.
| Logo | Print (width) | Screen (width) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary horizontal | 40mm | 160px |
| Stacked | 25mm | 100px |
| Circular | 25mm | 100px |
| Arch | 20mm | 80px |
| Minimal marks | 8mm | 32px |
Backgrounds
Green on light, ivory on dark. Nothing else.
Colour pairing
Anchors carry text on ivory. Accents are for display and shapes only.
Harvest supper
Join us in the hall after the morning service.
Easter morning
All are welcome from ten o'clock.
Join us in the hall after the morning service for soup, bread and good company.
Type hierarchy
Cormorant Garamond Regular, for headings and body alike.
Sunday 12 October
Harvest supper
Bring something to share and stay for one more cup.
Bring something to share and stay for one more cup after the morning service in the hall.
Harvest supper
Photography
People, not the building. See the Photography section.
In use
One clear message, one palette, a real photograph.