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We’re pleased to announce that Saint Matthew Church has a new identity—in the form of a new logo and website.
When thinking about our church, it feels a bit odd to bring up design and marketing, almost profane… aren’t we showing the world our devotion through words and actions? Isn’t our message enough? Maybe it should be, but we live in a modern world and word of mouth is only a single way to reach it.
The PR & Communications ministry recently embarked on a rebranding project to integrate the core values and history of our church into a new and unique identity.
Saint Matthew’s previous logo served well for many years, using basic graphics to communicate important aspects of our church… the cross, Eucharist, praying hands, deep roots, dove of peace, “All are welcome” banner. But we never had a distinctive, consistent visual identity.
Before working on a new logo, it seemed best to start with the community of Saint Matthew. We began with a survey asking parishioners…
“What 3 words come to mind when you think of Saint Matthew Church?”
“How would you describe Saint Matthew’s in one sentence to a friend?”
The answers varied, but it was heartening to see many repeated themes of welcoming, inclusiveness, and love.
Most common words:
A few phrases:
Once we felt that the essence of Saint Matthew’s was understood, we embarked on the visual aspect of the redesign. Utilizing a wonderful illustrator and friend of the PR ministry, Nachi Eltit worked with us to bring the new identity to life.
The previous logo used multiple graphics to communicate multiple concepts, but the new identity combines these ideas in a simple, iconic symbol.
Taking cues from our research and working through various concepts, we ended up on a graphic that communicates the holy cross, welcoming hands, wings of a dove, stained glass, a tree, roots, and more… depending on how you look at it.
In the past, our church name was written in various fonts depending on who created the document and where it appeared.
Saint Matthew is now set in Museo Slab, a square serif typeface that connotes history, stability, and structure. Ecumenical Catholic Communion is set in Brandon Grotesque, a light sans-serif that is more simple and modern.
Combing these two typefaces signifies how Saint Matthew blends two worlds—a new expression for the Catholic faith in our time.
The bright color palette was inspired by the beautiful colors of our worship space and the many icons within. As the colors of our banners, vestments and church decorations change with the liturgical calendar, so too our logo reflects the season we celebrate.
Greens during Ordinary Time
Purples during Lent and Advent
White and golds during Easter and Christmas
You’re looking at it! We hope the new website serves as a living resource for the current community to stay informed and engaged, but also as a beacon to new and returning churchgoers. Saint Matthew has always relied on terrific word of mouth and we hope the new website can speak for us, through the Holy Spirit, when somebody in the world is looking for something new.
As of today the site isn’t 100% complete and that’s OK, in fact it should never be finished! Did you take great photos at an event? Send them our way! Find something broken on the site? Let us know! Just visit the Contact page and send a message through the form.