Church Nameplate

Church Nameplate Design

Design of a nameplate for a church that was built fifty years ago.

Churches built in the 60's didn't need a nameplate to be recognized and known back then. This is not so much the case nowadays. This is why a church in Leidschendam wanted a nameplate, fifty years after it was built.

I wanted the church to have a nameplate matching the building as if it was placed there already back in 1963, when it was built.

To do so I looked at design elements inside and outside of the building, like the cross made out of rectangular steel tubing, attached to the wall seemingly free floating, and the fence on the terras in front of the church, made from a similar steel tubing. This is why I chose to go with aluminium box letters in matching white.

The church building is a modern styled one. For a good match, I used Helvetica, as it is a modern font, introduced in the sixties and used a lot in print and advertising in that era and beyond.

Further to better match the nameplate with the building and to give it more character, I modified the initial K to match the K's in a large window, not too far from where the nameplate is placed and connected the initial with the following character.

As a result a lot of people commented that the nameplate was a natural match to the building. Some people that were not present at the unveiling actually thought the nameplate was there already , just as I intended it to be.

Responsibilities & tasks

Ideation
Design
Liasing with the constructors
Guiding the placement