Where to Find Free Graphics?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you need a place to find the perfect photo for your screen, video or print publication. So what are some free resources for finding graphics for print and screen productions? I'll get the list rolling with a few that I use:

Flickr- I search for photos which are posted under creative commons license. This basically means you can use them but you need to give credit to the owner. Flickr is an only photo community where members post their photos for others to comment on, view and use. You may have to do a little searching for the right photo, but I have found some good ones. Flickr also has groups where you can find graphics uploaded by people with similar interests. For example the Church Marketing Lab is a group where church communicators post their publications for feedback and critique. 

Creative MYK- This site is a christian community of talented people who want to share their work with others. You can find many different formats of graphic materials. This includes not only photos, but adobe photoshop files, illustrator files, and screen graphics. Many of these files are editable so you can customize them for your own use.

Stock Exchange- Stock exchange is another photo and graphics community that is more regulated than flickr. Photos available are more by serious photographers, which means you don't have to filter through a ton of snapshots to find the photo you want. It also means there are not quite as many photos available, but it has been one of my go to sites for a long time.

Those are just three places of the places I go to, but there are many more out there. So what about you? Where do you go to find graphics? Share in the comments below or on the simple church communication facebook page.

7 Things Communicators Want You To Know

I belong to a facebook page of Church Communicators put together by the great folks over at UMR Communications. I told the group I would be leading a workshop for church secretaries and communications people in our district.

I asked them what the 3 top things they would want to share about communication. Here are some of their responses.

1. The world is changing and so much church communications.

2. New media strategies can help with budget woes (Facebook is free!)

3. Look at all church communications through the... eyes of a visitor.

4.Pick a few ways to communicate and do them well, rather than trying to do lots of things, poorly

5. It's NOT all about the postcard anymore

6. For a new perspective on a regular print piece, resist the temptation to open up the last file and do a "save as." start from scratch and re-evaluate what was good about the last one and what can be done differently

7. I can't overstate the importance of everyone being willing to use the same softwares...makes file sharing and life in general so much easier.

There's seven things to get you started. What would you add?

So What is Simple Church Communication?

I used to be a youth director, now I'm a worship leader. So what am I doing writing a blog about communication for churches? Working in a church for over 15 years I have seen how effective great communication can be. Unfortunately I have seen some examples too of poor communication, some of which have come out of my computer. But I have learned over the years from those who communicate effectively through different means, and through my own errors and successes how to use communication better.

I now serve our church in two roles, worship leader and communications director. I handle most of our communication avenues including website, facebook and printed magazine, along with occasional flyers, posters, videos and other means.

I do not pretend to know everything. What I do know is what I have picked up along this journey of mine. My goal is to share what I have learned with you, and in return learn from you.

Over the past few years I have been asked to lead a few local workshops covering things like newsletters, blogging, websites and social media. I hope to use those questions as the launching point for this blog. If I know the answer I'll share that. If I don't know the answer I'll try to find out. Along the way to I'll post any helpful links to articles, blogs and other communicators I have learned, or am learning from.

So with that introduction over let me ask you a question.

What is one area of communications that you feel your church does very well? Why?