Berkeley Umc’s 50th Anniversary
Event Marketing
Concept
In 2022, Berkeley United Methodist Church celebrated their 50th anniversary with a party on their front lawn. The event was meant to engage both kids and adults, with activities ranging from a foam party to live jazz.
Challenge
To design and print T-shirts to commemorate the event, along with invitations, banners, and temporary tattoos.
Initial Thoughts
The design had to include the Methodist cross, while keeping an overall modern and playful look. This design was also primarily for T shirts, so a goal was to use as little colors as possible.
Inspiration
Many offices, including church offices, utilize printing on colored paper for better organization, or a simple way to make a page more eye catching without wasting printer ink. My challenge for myself was to design without any white, and have a solution that worked on color backgrounds.
Sketches
I wanted to find a symbol unique to Berkeley UMC, and I immediately landed on bell that they ring before every Sunday service. Along with this element, I experimented with common features of birthday parties: cakes, candles, party hats, confetti, and party horns.
Digital Drafts
Moving forward with the party symbols, I threw a confetti over everything that gave the illusion of having 3 colors, using the color of the shirt itself as part of the design. For the left chest print, I was torn between two main ideas: a candle shaped like the methodist cross, or a depiction of the Berkeley bell.
Finals
With feedback from various members of the church and it’s pastor (who is, full disclosure, my dad, lol), I was asked to not be too playful with the Methodist logo, like putting a party hat on it, or having it blowing a party horn. In the end, I was able to incorporate these symbols elsewhere on the design, and narrow in on just the bell and its arch for the left chest.
Shout out to Ben Humphreys (@benatx) for letting me use his home setup, and helping me print these shirts for real!
Reflection
The biggest compliment I got from this project was members of the church continuing to wear the shirt even years after the event. It was playful enough to be wearable, but did not offend people with its irreverence! One of the most important things I learned from this project was how to separate my own design for screen printing, and how to turn limitations into even better creative decisions.