But not everyone can make the cut, and not everyone is meant to be a designer specifically in the NPO (Non Profit Org) space.

Here are 5 reasons for you to consider:

1. Not a People Person

People are people everywhere, that’s a fact, but it’s really important to know how to relate to people well within the NPO space, especially since the goal is typically to reach people instead of make a profit or push a product.

If you hate people then designing within this space is a no-go.

2. Money

If you’re interested in becoming filthy-rich from being a designer then you need to target a different audience and market than NPO because it’s just not going to happen.

Sure, many NPO’s have money but we all know it’s just not the same as the non-ministry/non-NPO market.

3. Not a Good Listener

A large value for all NPO’s is the story they want to tell, through their actions and how they impact the world. If you’re not a good listener then you won’t hear the story and won’t be able to execute effectively for the organization and it’s needs.

Sure, you need to be a good listener for any contract job but I’ve found that you have to be especially adept at understanding and hearing the nuances of a NPO.

A little violent, perhaps, but I love this video!

For those that don’t know, Mel is one of the founders and key principals at Visioneering Studios, a creative architectural powerhouse.

Although they are the largest firm that services ministries and churches, they do much more than that for much larger organizations and businesses like the Hotel Current:

Pretty sweet, right? As we mentioned in the previous post about creating new church experiences (Toy Story!) Mel is amazing at it.

That’s why I’m pretty interested in attending the Cornerstone Alignment 4 Conference when it comes to Atlanta:

Mel will be speaking about church construction and more.

Is this of interest to you? I’d love to be there.

Are you familiar and/or aware of other such similar conferences?

Out are the rustic halls of old smelly buildings and in with creative full-experience environments. Check out this one that features Toy Story:

Looks pretty neat, right?

Is your ministry doing/has done anything like this? Why or why not?

[HT: ChurchRelevance]

What happens when a flamethrower and fire extinguisher meet? The band Dancing Pigeon’s (where do people come up with these band names?) decided to find out in their music video for their single “Ritalin”.

Check out the video – it’s awesome:

He’s just launched some new javascript goodness with MediaElement.js, which replaces <video> with either Silverlight or Flash which returns a wrapper object that matches the HTML5 Media Element API.

What does that mean in plain english? It means that you can use this script and feel good about yourself even when your visitors aren’t using state-of-the-art browsers to view your content because they’ll be able to view your content.

Sweet hawtness! Download it directly here.

Don’t let the typical evolution of your website go from left to right, as seen above.

Perhaps we all need to re-evaluate our web properties…

Good World Creative is essentially a collaboration of creative individuals, businesses and nonprofits propelling the world forward through quality design, photography and brand.

What it appears to be is an opportunity to donate your time, resources, and talents to help NPO (Non Profit Orgs) with their specific business needs.

Check it out and donate your time if you feel led.

Sweet.

@Robdobiscool (what an interesting handle) asked me this privately yesterday and I thought it would be a great question to ask the community.

I’ve got an example form that North Point Community Church uses which you can find here [PDF Download]. I had to sign one of these when I participated in the White Flag series a little while back.

Any other great examples that we could share with the community? Hit us up in the comments.

Thankfully, we have a community here and around The 8BIT Network which means that I don’t feel the pressure at all to be the go-to source for everything.

*Whew!*

I received an email about “digital signage” and I thought I’d post the email here. Your thoughts would be appreciated!

From Karina Lopez,

First off let me say that I greatly appreciate everything you guys do! The 8 bit network has informed me soo much and has made me realize I am not alone in this church media guru world of ours! So thank you!

Well, my name is Karina Lopez and I currently work, or rather intern, as a Media/Music Intern at a church in a small town in Florida. My church is considered one of the largest in our area with about 200-300 in attendance every Sunday morning. We run on solely volunteers for our media ministry, except recently me as an intern. And I have a different sound guy every week pretty much.

I’m blessed to have them but its pretty hard sometimes. I’ve been an intern for about 3 years now. (Wow! Just realized how long that is.) I am currently in college getting a Bachelors in Worship Ministry, Media Technology and I’m just tryin to learn as much as possible about all aspects of media ministry in church today.

But on to my question…sorry to babble. I just found out that my church wants to put up some digital signage in the lobby and have looping announcements playing constantly.

How do I go about figuring out how to do this the cheapest possible, with the best quality and longevity?

We might even want to have live updates! Also play some mpgs or dvds. We use Media Shout so maybe there is a way to incorporate presentation software. I’ve heard of churches using an iPod Touch but Maybe in a year or so I may be approached or if I’m not there they may be looking to live feed the services.

What do you guys do/use at your church? And what have you seen or heard done at other churches? ANy suggestions? Thanks again!!

Karina

Community, Your Turn!

Love your thoughts on helping Karina out…!