Graphics are a big part of ministry, as they are of any organization or business. We live in a visual generation where most people – adults, teens, and children – are moved by graphics. With social media alone, graphics are a huge part of the conversation going on. So below I have compiled a list of useful resources in designing graphics for ministry (or anything). These are in no particular order.
Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop)
The number one resource for almost all pro graphic designers is Adobe Photoshop. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a pro to use it. It used to be that you have to fork over a couple hundred dollars to pick up a single version of Photoshop. That has changed though. When Adobe introduced the Creative Cloud, they took that price down to just $10 a month (yes, a subscription plan) and they give you Adobe Lightroom as well (to help touch up your photos). With the introduction of the subscription plan, Adobe is now allowed legally (yes, legally), to introduce new features any time they want. By law, they used to only be able to do this with the introduction of a new version and with you paying for new software. They also offer special rates for qualified non-profits.
Adobe Spark
Sticking with Adobe, check out Adobe Spark for your social media designs. Adobe Spark makes it easy to design graphics, videos, and webpages to share on social media (or anywhere else). What’s great about it is that first of all, it’s free and that you can work on them while on the go on your phone or on the web. They have apps you can download for the various types of projects you want to work on, or just log in to the webpage to work on any of them.
Canva
Canva is an online graphics editor for making social media posts. It’s very simple to use, yet produces some really good results. It includes different templates, fonts, free images, and more to help you design your graphics. It is free, however there are some graphics that you have to pay for. Like Adobe Spark, you can edit your graphics on the website or with an app on your mobile device.
Design Bold
Everything I just said about Canva could be copied and pasted to Design Bold, with the exception of a mobile app.
Pixlr
If you need to do some design work on something like Photoshop, but don’t want to fork over the money (or don’t have it), check out Pixlr – a free online editor that works similar to Photoshop. It’s more powerful and gives you much more control over your design than sites like Canva or Design Bold, but it also takes longer to design a graphic because you have all that control.
Freepik
If you’re looking for free photos, illustrations or photoshop files, check out Freepik.com. They have tons of high quality freebies for you to use on your designs.
Pixabay
If you’re just looking for free photos, check out Pixabay. They have tons and tons of high quality, awesome photos to download for free.
Lightstock
Looking for high-quality stock photos and vectors? Check out Lightstock – a totally Christian-based stock photo site. The photos are paid, but they do give away a free photo and video every week. Full disclosure: I do sell photos on the site.
Creationswap
Creationswap sells graphics, photos, photoshop files, movies, invite cards, flyers, etc – all Christian-based. Full disclosure: I do sell graphics on the site.
Open Resources
Open Resources is a site dedicated to sharing ministry graphics among churches. The site is free and offers great graphics for your graphic needs.
Seeds
Seeds is the annual media conference put on by Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK. Their resource website offers free graphics, audio, video, and other cool stuff all for free.
Elevation Resources
Elevation Resources offers ree graphics resources from Elevation Church.
Mobile Apps
Below are a few mobile apps that can help you design graphics for social media posts and other cool things. They are in no particular order and don’t have a description as all of them do basically the same thing – design social media posts.
Word Dream – iOS GooglePlay
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