Hello everyone. My name is Jeremy Green. I am a technical director working at Fellowship Church of Grand Junction CO., and here’s my story:
I came on staff two and half years ago as an audio engineer and slowly moved up until they put me in charge of making sure everything in the tech department ran smoothly. Two graphic designers and myself made sure each weekend had a steady flow of graphics and videos designed to match the theme of the weekend and/or series.
I was content to let them do their job and I stayed away from their Adobe creation stations. Not that I was scared to learn, I just felt like I had enough to worry about making sure the department ran smoothly.
I had other jobs of course. Maintaining all of our sound and lighting equipment. Running sound for three services as well as the rehearsals. Coordinating a large team of volunteers. Podcasts and IT issues. But then the recession happened.
Not Financially Possible
The church administration decided it was just not financially possible to keep everyone on staff and had to make some cuts. That’s when I got the news that my staff had been cut from three to one. Only me left.
Oh, and the graphics and videos still have to be made. Can you do that?
Not one to back down from a challenge, and knowing everyone was being asked to make sacrifices, I began to devise a plan for how learn an entire software suite in a week.
Well, not quite a week, but you know what I’m saying. It’s not that I don’t know anything about computers. I grew up with them, learning HTML and creating web pages for fun in the seventh grade. I almost went to college for computer programming. And I know Pro Tools pretty well (I have a degree in Music Technology).
It’s just that I have no training in graphic design, art theory, or the programs used to create it. I can’t even match my own wardrobe half the time.
How can someone with no experience, albeit a lot of determination, hope to learn about graphic design (and make the final product at least halfway decent) in such a short amount of time? And, on top of that, still do all their other jobs?
Here are a few of the things I’ve learned so far.
1. Organize the Chaos
In order to finish everything I have to do for a weekend service, I must stay organized. Here is how I start: Monday morning I clean up my office from the week before, throwing away trash and filing all the papers that I don’t need on my desk anymore. I take a look at the list of people I need to contact that week, add any tasks that need to get done to my to-do list, and figure out “Next Actions” for each of them.
Also on Monday morning the creative arts team (myself, worship pastor, associate worship pastor) get a somewhat finalized scheduled for the coming weekend’s service. I take that list and make a list of all the videos, graphics, and other projects that have to get done for that week.
That piece of paper stares at me all week from my desk. With a little check box next to each item, I always know what projects I’ve finished and what I should start on next.
2. Deadlines Motivate
I know, the weekend is the deadline. But with all of the things I have to create, there is no way to get them all done if I don’t set certain deadlines for myself. I have a wife of one and a half years and I would like to see her every once in a while. In order to keep me focused, deadlines are a must.
First, I’m thinking about the graphic for the upcoming week during the weekend service (oh for the time to actually get more than a week ahead). On Monday I’ll play around with ideas and try to come up with a decent concept using PS, AI, or AE. By Monday evening I have to email the web graphic to our site manager, so that forces me stick to my first deadline.
On Tuesday, since I have the basic graphic idea down, I’ll go into AE and try to spice it up a little bit for the Message Video Intro. Since I’m still new to graphic design, much of this time is spent learning and experimenting.
By the end of Wednesday I’ve made about four different graphics, using the concept from Monday, and up to five videos including: worship intros, short funny videos filmed by the worship pastor, announcements, etc.
I work as hard as I can during the week so I can have my weekend (Thursday and Friday) to recuperate and spend time with my wife. Currently this involves skiing, as western Colorado has been getting a hefty amount of snow this year. Fun is a prerequisite to creative design.
3. Learn One Bite (or Byte) At A Time
Like I said before, I know computers, but I’d never made a video in After Effects in my life! When I found out I was going to have to learn, I turned to Google. I found out there are a ton of amazing sites out there dedicated to teaching others how to use these cool programs.
And best of all, a lot of them are free! The only question was, where do I begin?
I’m also an avid mountain biker/cyclist, so I know about training plans. The point of them is consistency. If you can chop your riding year into bite size pieces one week long, you have a much better chance of being consistent in your training than if you just randomly decide how much to ride each day.
Borrowing from that concept, I have mapped out a plan for learning graphic design at what I feel is a manageable and consistent pace. Each week, starting with Sunday, I write out my learning goals. Here is a sample of what that looks like:
- Two online Adobe Illustrator tutorials
- One Chapter in “Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects” by Trish and Cris Meyer
- Two online After Effects tutorials
- One online Photoshop Tutorial
Sometimes I do more than this, but at minimum these are what I make myself do for the week. By setting these goals beforehand, I am more likely to follow the plan, and so far it is working. I’ve been learning a ton, and by doing it in bite size chunks, I don’t feel overwhelmed by how much I still have to learn.
Well, there you have it.
A few tips for how to survive when all you have is you (and God’s help of course). I know I still have a lot to discover about graphic design, but the more I learn, the more I want to learn. It fascinates and intrigues me. I’m not going to pretend to be as good as most designers out there now, but maybe someday.
Maybe someday…
PhillipGibb says
I am not employed to do what I do but I know what you mean when you talk about doing all that work. Fortunately for me I don’t do the graphics and I have some help on the video.
Being intentional about learning something is so important. I get in the habit of doing things the way I found out myself – learning from the masters help me find out the right way. Besides which I go thru the tutorials going “oh, wow – you can do that?”
benrwoodard says
How do you do all that in three days? Sat and Sun are taken up with services and practice, right? This is great stuff on how organizing and planning have to go hand in hand.
greenhornet79 says
Yeah, Saturday and Sunday are all about the service. Right now, I just try and keep everything simple. I study a lot of ads in magazines and tv and see what can make the most impact, but without tons of flashiness. And then I try to emulate those designs so that it looks good, but doesn’t take tons of time.
Hopefully soon I’ll be able to start making more intricate designs if I can get some more help. 🙂
dannyjbixby says
Very, very helpful. Thanks man.
Jen C says
How far ahead has your pastor planned out his message topics?
I’m volunteering as graphics person (and web stuff and video), but our pastor is lucky to have his sermon picked out by Saturday night. Any thoughts on how I could encourage the pastor to plan ahead a little bit?
greenhornet79 says
Sometimes I know the topic weeks out, and sometimes I don’t find out until the Wednesday of.
One thing you can do is encourage him how much better the graphics can be if you have more time to create them. Also the more time you have, the more they will compliment his sermon.
If that’s impossible, another solution is to create different “graphic packages” throughout the week without a title. That way when Saturday comes around you can choose a certain package, add a title, and you’re ready to go!
Jen C says
Ooh, the graphics package is a great idea! Thanks!
I knew I couldn’t be the only person with an indecisive pastor. 🙂
Josh says
I play keyboards for one of my church’s services, and our setlist is never quite final until about 45 minutes or so before the service starts.
And the idea of the “packages” is great. You should always have a little backup plan, just in case.
John Saddington says
word up. love the pressure, right?
greenhornet79 says
I used to play guitar at our weekend services back when I was in high school and half the time we’d pick out the songs right before service. What were we thinking!?!
Nick Shoemaker says
Good stuff Jeremy! To be honest- I’m a little envious… Colorado AND technical director!
That’s my kind of thing! (We used to live in Steamboat Springs, CO- and miss CO so much!)
Thanks for writing this man. 🙂
PhillipGibb says
yeah I wish I could do what I do full time for the Church. Then again I may not get as much slack as I do now, lol.
Graham says
I have a similar position at my church. I’m in charge of all the graphics and everything else that gets shown on the screen each weekend. We currently have 7 worship services that span across 2 campuses. Our worship team has tried to develop a plan to start working ahead a little bit. It’s sorta working. Thanks for posting your week for us! Good to see how others in my area map out their time.
greenhornet79 says
No problem! As far as the worship team goes, one thing that has really helped ours out with planning and organizing is the online worship planning resources.
They do a great job of keeping everyone on the same page with the worship service and forcing you to be organized.
Cherry Shellabarger says
Thanks for sharing! It is at times like this one realizes just how deep the well of resources (friends, knowledge, experience, education) is.
John Saddington says
sure thing! thanks for stopping by!
greenhornet79 says
You’re welcome Cherry! Let me know the next time your kids have a concert. They did a great job when ya’ll were here.