by miss hibiscus
So some people have been wondering how to balance their time and energy between Xanga and Revelife. It's an understandable dilemma. Unfortunately, I am not writing about a solution or suggestion. Sorry!
I had my own dilemma between Xanga and Revelife which I thought posed an interesting question/idea/thought:
How does your Christian faith influence your choices in design/art? Is there a place for faith in art?See, when I started my Revelife site, I went through all the themes to pick out what I wanted (too lazy to make my own theme right now) and did all the other things we do to personalize our sites. But then I thought that if Revelife is a Christian blogging network, then should my site be Christian-ized??? I've never been one to adorn myself or my possessions with Christian paraphernalia... no cross necklace, purity ring, Christian bumper stickers. Not even a DC*B sticker on my guitar case (and they're the only Christian band I'm a fan of)! But with the creation of a "Christian blog" I suddenly felt a need to pick a "more Christian" theme and have some kind of cross-adorned profile photo.
The thing is, there is nothing really wrong with pictures, icons, photos, etc. with a Christian influence. But my issue with those things has been that... well... I think they're pretty ugly
.
Now this is
not an attack on anyone's taste, if you do like that stuff. It's just that I really appreciate great design. I'm not a trained artist, but I know enough of the basic concepts of art and design to pick out what is poor design. And lots of Christian design just tends to be bad. Or plagiarized. Designers just stick a cross or fish on a t-shirt or change one of the words of an original slogan to "Jesus" or "pray" or "cross" or something and call it a Christian design.
Again, I'm not harping on Christian designers or the people who buy their stuff. I just wish Christian art could be just as strongly ART as it is CHRISTIAN. How can faith be showcased in art and design without being garish or boring?
I know it's not the most pressing idea, but to quote
Rob Bell, "Everything is spiritual."
Also, I am sleep-deprived and have blogger's block. Anything in particular you guys would like to read/discuss here?
Comments (5)
Hear, hear!
I've decided not to change anything about my Xanga self on Revelife. I'm not ashamed of my xanga design or anything I write there.
And if Christians don't start improving the world of "Christian" art... who will?
hehehe, funny you mention that...I'm a graphic designer frustrated with all things that are church/christian related not looking so good and slapped together for sake of getting message out. I think marketing Jesus is more important that marketing Coke, Nike, or the next Wii game. I believe that it should be my best work at least. SO I do try my best to design for my Church and other organizations that promote the faith of Christ. So time to put my money where my mouth is...will I do something cool for my site...may be, may be not...my blog is text not for the looks for the heart (what's inside) that I want to give but yeah it's nice to look good on the outside.
regarding Fullmetalbunny's comment...
I will, one church at a time, one denomination at a time....my own slogan has always been "design the world" =)
Those things that you speak of really ARE that ugly. I love the idea of inspiring people to become CURIOUS and ask about our faith from pieces that are not so blatant... like from profound movies or beautiful music that has a Christian message, I love it when people ask "How did that come about?" and "What kind of story is behind this?"
This definitely also applies to those really tacky WWJD memorabilia or even the Jesus fish stickers/emblems that people plaster on their cars. These are just as bad as those family of stick figures stickers that people have become obsessed with.
No offense intended, of course.
My question is how do you make other Christians understand the value of design, and its importance in promoting the kingdom of God? If everything is garish and UGLY, then there's got to be a reason why it is. I'm a graphic designer and head of all media at my church, but there always seems to be one or two above me that have final say.
I wonder if other people have faced the same issues I have with having to confront higher ups about making a conscious decision to effectively use design and not in its water down form (the hurry up and design kind of mentality, get it done quickly so that we have it done mentality)
Does anybody else out there feel the same way I do? Or have encountered such an issue?
My other question is this: What does highly effective christian design look like, and what separates it from the worldly design? is there a distinction?
as a graphic designer I actually entered into the study hoping to put a dent in the ugly aesthetic that has become Christian design. However, I soon discovered that one of the major roots of this problem is actually the fact that the subject is beyond the scope of what we are able to illustrate with pictures, gestures, marks, and words. It makes sense that God had described Himself, "I Am," because no word we have or will invent could ever contain who He is. Furthermore, the current established visual language must be worked with to be understood by the masses. We can't designate a sheep as the new fish and have it be understood, or a noose as the new cross. So we have to work within the constraints of our current visual language while still pushing the large mass of the Christian culture towards things that are less cheesy, less Hallmark, better designed in their own right instead of parodies of corporate campaigns. It's a slow process, and too many are willing to just give what they are being paid for instead of take a monetary loss to do something new and worthwhile.