From time-to-time we highlight the creative Christian talent on Mister Nifty and today I want to introduce my friend Wendell Fernandes.  Wendell loves God first and foremost and has devoted his life to following Christ. He uses his talent to bless the Kingdom of God. Wendell is a prolific dreamer and an accomplished illustrator, UI and web designer. He has worked for Monster.com, Dell, and many other large corporations. His work has been featured in the prestigious Smashing Magazine and the very popular Colorburned.com, and most notably his custom icons are part of the core of Dell’s latest smart phone, Aero.

Today, I’m excited to help him announce the launch of a huge project, Printed Piece. Here is a little bit about Printed Piece from the Wendell himself:

Have you been frustrated in your search for high quality print designers and providers? What if there was a place online where you could search for inspirational material for your next printed project and then find a designer and printer to do the work? This is the idea behind Printed Piece.

Printed Piece is a website where you can find print design inspiration from everything from corporate identity, collateral, apparel, posters, banners, logos, brochures, postcards, mugs, mouse pads, and much, much more! Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, Printed Piece goes one step further and helps you locate a designer or a printer in your area to help you get the project done.

Printed Piece is an all-in-one, flavored, creative-driven community. It allows you to set up a profile, send messages, apply for jobs, and even rate and review companies and designers.

If you’re looking for a print designer, this is the place to find one. If you are a print designer, surf on over and open a free account to post some of your work or just browse for some inspiration.

Here are a few screenshots of Printed Piece.

If you would like to hire Wendell for your next project visit him at Dellustrations.com

Visit Printed Piece

If you haven’t read Dear Church Designer – Part 1 – you should probably read it (along with all the comments) before you read part 2.

This is a tongue-in-cheek piece, so my point is not to offend anyone, I’m just having a little observation fun here.

Photoshop by hook, crook, or legit means is in the hands of most church designers. The one thing that hastens to me to write this post is the onslaught and might I say slaughter of the layer effects palette. I’m not against using the native effects in Photoshop. In fact, I find them very valuable to create really nice looking designs. The key is moderation and most of the time, sparsity.

If you’ve ever done anything remotely similar to the following -> You’re an Effects Abuser.

Bevel is one of the most overused effects in the history of Photoshop. The use of bevel should be used sparingly and with caution. A slight, soft bevel can be good for your design. Too much bevel and you’ve bloated your text to typographical obesity.

WHOA THERE MR. GRADIENT. You’re hurting my eyes! If you’re going to use gradients, please take a look at color theory before mixing two colors together. There is a science behind color that reflects in human behavior. When two adjacent colors are mixed in a gradient, it’s not so good to the eyes or the attitude. I’m a big fan of gradients, when used with care. Gradients can make your designs go from good to great, but they must be ever so unobtrusive that the audience doesn’t even notice them.

Our earth is filled with gradients, but they are not harsh. The sky is a beautifully simple gradient that reflects many shades of blue. We’re used to subtle gradients in nature, and we can please the eye of the audience by using subtle gradients in design. (more…)

I love you, but I can’t let you use these fonts any more. This is an intervention.

Scriptina was sooooooooo 2008. It was cool for the very first project you used it on, but it’s not cool now. Also, every nail salon in America has contemplated using it for their logo.

If you don’t think Papyrus is outdated and overused, please look up the meaning of Papyrus at Wikipedia.

Ministry Font Spotlight

OK, now I’m being serious. Please forgive me if I’ve offended you. It wasn’t my purpose, but the fact that you’re reading this far down means I piqued your interest.

You don’t have to use default fonts for everything. There are a ton of great quality fonts that are free to download. Take some time to learn to install them and use them in their appropriate place.  If you are a church designer and don’t know about fonts and typography, go to Lynda.com and take their typography course, or go to Barnes and Nobles and read up on the subject.

If you don’t know the following terms, you might need to take a typography course:

• Serif
• Sans-serif
• Oblique
• Monospaced
• Kerning
• Leading
• Tracking
• Baseline

Here are some advanced structural type terms to get your feet wet:

• Counter
• Bowl
• Ligature
• Ascender
• Terminal
• Spine
• Descender
• Stem

Here are a couple Mister Nifty links to help find free alternative fonts:

• 35 Fresh Free Fonts
• Font Squirrel
• DaFont

MagCloud is a sweet, novelty service that allows you to create a real magazine. The process seems pretty straight forward.

1. Create your own document in whatever program you wish. The file dimensions need to be 8.5″ X 11″. If you want photographs to bleed to the edge, create your document at 8.75″ X 11.25″.  You can easily create this file in Microsoft Word, Photoshop, or other layout programs.  If you use InDesign grab their template here.
2. Export your layout to a multi-page PDF. You can use PrimoPDF to create a multi-page PDF from any program. It works as a secondary printer that prints to a file.
3. Upload your PDF and they send you a proof in the mail.
4. Once approved, your project gets published and others can go online and purchase your magazine. You can even make a profit on your

The pricing is very reasonable – .20 per page. A 50-page magazine would cost $10.00 + shipping. You can add up to 100 pages and a minimum of 4 pages. Page counts must be a multiple of four.

Ideas For Your Own Magazine

• Annual Church Event Calendar / Directory
• Yearly Student Curriculum Book
• Student Trip Memory Books
• Wedding Albums For Family Members
• Collaborative Stories (Each student  submits their own page)

These are just a few ideas to get your brain gears turning. I’m sure you can come up with something awesome for your ministry. If you create a magazine, send me an email and I’ll post it below for others to see.

Go To MagCloud

I just saw this really nice Photoshop tutorial at Creative Overflow. This would be a nice sermon series image effect. By the way, this is the best way to learn Photoshop – by trying out step-by-step tutorials. This helps you learn about features you have never used before and create some really nice looking stuff.

Go To Creative Overflow

If you’re looking for some creative Christian inspiration, Joe Cavazos is the guy. Joe is from Mission, Texas and is a full-time graphic designer for the Palm Valley Church. He regularly creates sermon media as well as print collateral for his church. His work oozes with creativity and attention to detail. It really speaks for itself.  Here are some of the images he’s released for public use on CreativeMYK.

All of these images are available for download to use in your church. Some are flattened images, others are PSD files you can edit. If you like Joe’s work give him a shout and tell him what you think. You can find Joe here on  Twitter – @joecavazos or on his website. Beware: Following Joe on Twitter will push you out of your design comfort zone.