Jude Coram Design

Tiverton Baptist Church

services: web design, branding

software: wordpress, illustrator

Industry: religious

When Tiverton Baptist Church got a new pastor to lead the congregation, I was asked to create a new website to modernise the church’s look and draw in new people to our services. I also redesigned our church logo to fit in better to the fresh new image we were creating. TBC was founded in 1607 and is reportedly the oldest baptist church in the UK, so it was a real pleasure being given the chance to modernise and refresh the image of the church bringing it into the 21st century.

the design

The first thing I needed to do was redesign the church’s logo. If we wanted a new fresh look to the church’s branding then the logo needed modernising too. I’ve always liked the original concept designed by one of our past members, so I didn’t want to stray too far from it. I took the original concept and made it monochrome with a more handwritten style.  Nothing too “street” as we are a rural church after all, but something that shows that we were trying to move in the right direction into the future. The new logo is sleeker and can be used in a variety of colours in a variety of places. This new style looks more inviting and less austere, showing we are a personable congregation, not a soulless entity. 

the design

The first thing I needed to do was redesign the church’s logo. If we wanted a new fresh look to the church’s branding then the logo needed modernising too. I’ve always liked the original concept designed by one of our past members, so I didn’t want to stray too far from it. I took the original concept and made it monochrome with a more handwritten style.  Nothing too “street” as we are a rural church after all, but something that shows that we were trying to move in the right direction into the future. The new logo is sleeker and can be used in a variety of colours in a variety of places. This new style looks more inviting and less austere, showing we are a personable congregation, not a soulless entity. 

Original TBC Logo
Old TBC Logo Design
TBC Logo 2 Black
New TBC Logo Design

The next job was to create a new website. I’ve been using WordPress for many years now and thought it would be accessible for those who needed to use the site within the church. The previous website was all ran by one admin who you had to contact to change anything. As you can imagine this got hard to do when you had upcoming events. WordPress would allow the pastor and other members access to add new events and blog posts without having to contact an admin to do it for them.

I wanted the design to be as sleek and simple as possible. The site would serve as a way for current members to know what’s going on within the church as well as potential visitors finding out important details. The site didn’t need to be complicated. That’s why the home page has everything you could need at a quick glance. It’s got a potted history of the church, a list of events, and the all important service timings. It was crucial that these elements were easy to read and access.

Tiverton Baptist Church Home Page

I also wanted the site to be easy to navigate. Everything needs to be able to found quickly and easily otherwise people might not bother reading any further. The menu bar is a quick and easy way to find exactly what you are looking for. Another consideration was that the site had to be mobile friendly. If we wanted some younger people coming to our church it is most likely that they are going to look up our church using their mobile so our site has to be ready for that. I added pages for all the different activities going on in our church as well as a calendar to easily see what’s going on during a particular week. Each page has a large header with all the important information on it with more details below.

The site has sought to modernise our church’s outward appearance. The hope is that when people find our site they will be able to find all the information they need to decide whether they would like to attend a service or activity. It’s also become a place for the current congregation to get quick helpful information of what’s going on within the church.

final thoughts

It was a pleasure being given the free rein to come up with a simple and aesthetically pleasing site for my congregation. I believe that the site will draw the eye for any prospective visitor and allow them to get all the info they need at a quick glance. I also made it easier for other members to help out with the site and add their own contributions. All in all I’ve very pleased with the finished article and the site should hopefully stand the test of time just like the church itself.