CHURCH 52 BRANDING.
Overview.
Over the past 17 years, Church 52 has grown from a group of 14 people to a congregation of hundreds. In preparation for expanding their outreach in 2022 and 2023, Church 52 asked Marion Design Co. to help capture their story and vision in a new brand identity. Marion Design Co. also designed signage, print materials, and graphics for the Indianapolis church’s exterior facade.
Background.
Church 52 is located on the eastside of Indianapolis and is affiliated with the General Council of the Assemblies of God. After attending Bible college and spending a year in discernment, lead pastor Perry Meade felt called to church planting. The church began with a group small enough to fit in a van. Together, they started searching for a place to call home. After meeting in a college library for three years and then renting their space for a time, Church 52 was eventually able to purchase their current building.
The mission of Church 52 is threefold: “Worship the Lord. Touch lives. Change our world.” Their name is both a reference to Highway 52 and to Isaiah 52:7, which declares, “how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (NIV). Through rebranding, the leadership of Church 52 hoped to bring good news to more young families, without alienating older generations. Marion Design Co. worked with team pastor Colton Kellam to replace the church’s outdated logo and better align their visual identity with their growing congregation.
Objectives.
welcome
The new visual identity needed to invite newcomers into the space, supporting Church 52’s goal of increasing outreach.
spirit
All brand elements had to reflect the movement of the Holy Spirit, along with the church’s spirit of energy and expectation.
permanence
A final goal was to make the building feel like a permanent church home, rather than a temporary or transitional space.
Process.
One of our team’s first steps in this project was to visit Church 52 in Indianapolis, ask questions, and make insightful observations about the current state of the church and its branding. During this visit, we were struck by the friendly, genuine, and worshipful nature of the church community. In the words of one church staff member, Church 52 is “a church that wants people to have an experience with Jesus every time the doors are open. To feel the presence of God, to be challenged to live how Jesus calls us to, and to see people saved and find Jesus.”
The exterior of Church 52 at the time of our initial visit.
Back in Marion, our team created a moodboard and then began sketching iterations of the new mark. Because Church 52’s name embodies both the history and spirit of the church, we focused on highlighting the number 52 in our designs. Soon we had a gallery of 29 sketches of the mark, which we presented to the client for feedback.
From that point, we went through a multi-stage process of refining our ideas until we arrived at a logo that met our objectives of welcoming new members, reflecting the Spirit’s movement, and establishing a sense of permanence for Church 52.
Results.
The final mark portrays Church 52 as a church expectant, reliant on the Spirit’s leading and excited to bring good news to the world. The logo’s unique typography carries layers of meaning. The undulation of the lines that rest above the letter “C” and make up part of the 5 and 2 mirror the tongues of fire which descended at Pentecost, filling the members of the early church with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). These lines also call back to Isaiah 52 with the image of a flag lifted up and waving in the wind.
Finally, the number 2 can be interpreted abstractly as a person kneeling in worship, while the numbers 5 and 2 can be seen as a reference to the miracle of Jesus feeding the crowd of five thousand with only five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14). Just as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, so Church 52 strives to multiply their outreach and impact.
Our team created four versions of the logo for flexible use across Church 52’s print and digital materials, along with icons, secondary marks, and patterns. These elements employ a bold color palette. Its primary colors, red and burgundy, remind visitors of the passion and energy of being fueled by the Holy Spirit. Cooler secondary colors provide balance, conveying the calm direction of the Spirit and the welcoming nature of the church body.
In addition to these digital assets, Marion Design Co. designed interior and exterior wayfinding signage to match the new brand and foster a sense of permanence. We created a design for the exterior facade of the building, drawing on Church 52’s new patterns and icons. Finally, we designed print materials for the church, including business cards, coffee sleeves, and letterhead.
Rendering of the new church exterior.
This project allowed us to help Church 52 prepare for the next chapter of their story. To see more examples of how Marion Design Co. has supported churches, read the case studies on our work with College Wesleyan Church and Ministry Incubators.
