I recently sent Josiah a link to a blog article that I though was particularly good. He replied later that he almost couldn’t read the article because the background of the blog it was written on was so ugly/distracting. Everyone may not be as sensitive to bad background images as an artist like Josiah, but everyone is affected by things other than content on web pages. Background matters.
Take the above “beauty” for example. I Love Jesus. I even love kitty cats (lower left corner). I’m happy that God created rainbows, and I happen to believe that the verses written on the above page are actually WORDS THAT BRING LIFE. Unfortunately, if I even glance momentarily at the above image I get a headache like the one I get when I eat the top half of a Rita’s Gellati in two bites. It’s Hideous. Other than making it on the list of the worlds worst websites, I not sure the (undoubtably well intentioned) has accomplished much with their “efforts”.
Content matters…but so does background and design. Great background design without content is pointless, but even the Good News of Jesus…the way to eternal life…can be detracted from with “background noise”.
I am constantly reminded of this tension between background and content as we look for a new venue for actionchurch on Sunday Mornings. A great building won’t improve the “content” of a church. A Church is about People…and pointing them to Jesus. The wrong building, however, can be a distraction. It can be just like “background noise” on a web page. The wrong venue can actually be distracting in spite of great “content”.
The “good news” in this search though, is that the one we depend on for guidance and wisdom is actually the creator of the “laws” of beauty and good design. Not only that, the one we trust to provide for us now is the same God who lead us to great “backgrounds” in the past…