Talking about God, talking to God, talking about design, designing -- they all felt a bit off.
I started this project to explore design and God for myself and by myself. Design work had become a game of compromise, and faith had started feeling foolish. And I didn’t want them to feel that way. Branding was my very first love and dream. Christmas is my favorite time of year and also conveniently centered on Christ. I wanted these things that I once loved to bring out the joy and excitement in one another again, so I made Christmas a branding project.
For the sake of freedom, I let myself do everything at the same time as I pleased. Research included listening to worship music again and reading more, but that took place while I prototyped and sketched. It allowed me to dissociate design completely from work or clients or deadlines and reframe it as what it once was for me: a fun mess.
These were a few words from Isaiah 55 that I always came back to and guided me as insights would in a client project:
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
I had a lot of questions and a lot of doubt about the practice of Christianity; I wavered a lot and found it hard to believe anything I was saying, singing, or reading. But throughout the whole thing, this one thing felt true: Jesus was born on Christmas day to bring love and kindness to everyone, without a price.
Mary’s is a new restaurant based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, serving up food for the soul and food for the body. It’s a communal gathering place for those who wonder, those who’ve waited, and most of all, for those who hunger. The kitchen is committed to offering warm food at all times of day, for anyone who needs it. They have one request — come and eat.
The restaurant aims to celebrate the owners’ son and his life and it needed to reflect that same Light and joy in its branding. I designed an identity map including a storefront logo, secondary logos, and a few extra fun marks.
I didn’t have any revelations, but I had a lot of fun, and I’m pretty proud of the outcome. It felt free and uncompromising, and childish in a great way. Christmas is probably the greatest example to me of child-like faith; a good reminder that sometimes it doesn’t have to be completely logical and thought out and proven. Sometimes faith can come from a feeling, from seeing your family open presents, from looking back at the best year of your life. I had a lot of fun turning Christmas into a restaurant, but will undoubtedly be exploring design and God for the rest of my life.