{"id":83,"date":"2018-10-12T11:19:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T10:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2019-08-21T17:58:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T16:58:57","slug":"a-new-font-for-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/10\/a-new-font-for-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Font For Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Westminster Chapel<\/a>, I look after the Tech Team<\/a>. Most of my role is overseeing what we do on a Sunday in terms of sound and visual provisions.<\/p>\n

Recently I’ve been focusing a lot on visuals during our time of sung worship. This means the way we display song lyrics and the backgrounds which they sit upon.<\/p>\n

The resource I use most is Church Motion Graphics (CMG)<\/a>. Originally they started by providing packs of motion backgrounds and still images from those packs.<\/p>\n

It has since then started providing social media templates, sermon slide suggestions, free still backgrounds<\/a>, guides on how to makeover slides<\/a>, a Facebook community<\/a> to share questions\/answers\/inspirations and much more!<\/p>\n

One of the most recent resources which has swept the CMG community is a new, open-source font; CMG Sans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CMG Sans<\/h3>\n

So what is CMG Sans exactly?<\/p>\n

Choosing the right font for your worship slides can be difficult. It\u2019s important to present the lyrics that your church community sings in a way that\u2019s clear and easy to read. However, it\u2019s also important to display them in a way that looks good and fits well with current design styles.<\/p>\n

This often leads media operators to either choose from a boring selection of fonts built into the computer or scouring the internet for fonts to download from thousands of confusing options.<\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CMG Sans is based off the popular Google open-source font, Montserrat<\/a>, and has a few adjustments which make it more useful in a worship environment.<\/p>\n

Firstly, some of the characters have been adapted. The letters G and J are the most obvious, with there being an additional font just for numbers for use in a countdown so they are monospaced.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Personally, I don’t mind these differences between the two fonts, and use Montserrat on the Brits and Grits podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jeff\u00a0McIntosh, CMG Sans creator, even did a direct comparison against a font which Chapel uses to highlight the differences between the inside of letters.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

CMG Sans is a great font and isn’t just used by churches for worship but on their social media, printed materials and websites.<\/p>\n

It’s a totally free, open-source font which means anyone can use it. It is certainly one of the best assets which CMG has created recently.<\/p>\n

Chapel’s Worship Visuals History<\/h3>\n

So how did we come to use the font at Westminster Chapel? Let’s take a quick flick through Chapel’s worship visuals history.<\/p>\n

When I first joined Chapel in 2013, they had a single screen above the pulpit and were projecting in 4:3. All the lyrics were at the bottom of the screen and used Chapel’s brand font Proxima Nova<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The lyrics had to be at the bottom of the screen so if you were sat at the far edges of the auditorium, the lyrics could be seen.<\/p>\n

Additionally, we displayed whole verses or choruses at one time on a static background.<\/p>\n

Over time, I shifted us to display up to four lines of lyrics at a time and added in some subtle motion backgrounds from CMG.<\/p>\n

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We are happy to have @_Commission<\/a>'s Students & 20s here at @TheChapelLondon<\/a> for #CST2017<\/a>! pic.twitter.com\/E7ZLYPoErr<\/a><\/p>\n

— Chapel Tech Team (@ChapelTechTeam) February 4, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n