The past year I've been busy with a lot of projects. It seems like not a week goes by without someone asking me to help them with a video, logo, wedding, poster, banner, slideshow... the list goes on.

Don't get me wrong, I love being able to offer my talents to others. I love making videos, logos, etc. But man, has it been a busy season. So I decided to write a 'Mega Blog' about all the projects I've been working on! Mainly because it's cool to put all their logos side-by-side so you can see how much stuff I've done :) And also because that's a lot of separate blogs to write, so I opted to do one.

In the following paragraphs I'll give you a rundown of people and organizations I've done work for this year. Not all of these are in the name of the Media Buff, some are volunteer work and one is my 9-5 job! I may also forget to include everything I've done this year. It's been a busy one! But I wanted to write this up and share it with you.

My smallest project that I decided to include in this blog was a shirt design for a friend from church. I designed this shirt for the Hickory Hustle 5K Run & Walk (logo above). This is an annual fundraising race held during the ‘Ole Hickory Days Festival in Colfax, IN and hosted by Colfax Christian Church. I mocked up a few designs and my friend and I went back and forth until a logo was produced that accurately represented the event. Their theme includes a rocking chair each year, so I incorporated that into the logo through several boxes that show the chair in movement. That was a fun little project I was glad to help on.

A few ongoing projects, that I've blogged about before, include Youth for Christ (YFC) (orange ringed logo above) and the YMCA. This past year alone I've done a handful of videos for YFC. They've ranged from interview heavy videos to a fundraiser video. For the YMCA, I've done several videos for them that cover 3 different YMCA's. These videos include a regional event recap and a youth program highlight video.

The next event I helped with this past year was the Amplified Mission Summit (AMS) (the blue, rippling logo above). This was an event put on by Global Partners, an organization that partners with missionaries to develop a comprehensive mission plan to see the lost reached, leaders developed, and churches reproduced. Global Partners is a part of the Wesleyan Church. I attended the week long AMS event in New York, documenting the event through video. I created a daily recap video as well as a final, all encompassing event recap video. I additionally did work pre-event that included an event website and a missionary retirement video. Through this event I also got to work with some old friends that used to work at my church in pastoral and admin roles. I've worked with them on countless projects so when we team up it's like clockwork and I love that.

The next event on my list is the Quo Vadis of Phi Kappa Theta (round, yellow logo above). This event was a part of my day-to-day job. The Media Buff is employed full-time by a National Fraternity, Phi Kappa Theta (PKT). So when I'm not doing all these other things, I'm working 40+ hours a week with the national office of PKT. Each year the Fraternity holds a national event. This year the event (the Quo Vadis) was held in Phoenix, AZ. Members came together from all across the country to get training that they can bring back to their 'chapter'. 'Chapters' are like a McDonald's on a school campus somewhere and the national office is the headquarters of those 'chapters'. So the officers of each chapter need training to be become better members, and these national events provide that training. My job with the Fraternity is to help maintain the Fraternity brand. This is done through providing video, photo, design, magazine and web work. At the Quo Vadis specifically, I provided branded materials (including the logo) as well as filmed some member interviews on site. I also ran media, including slide presentations at the event.

One project not represented above in the cool logo collage was some videos I did for One Mission Society. I was contacted by a member of our church that I have known for years, he asked if I could help with a series of videos for an event they had in July. These videos required me to go out on the streets and interview 20+ people, asking them a series of questions. These questions ranged from "How would you reach a billion people with an important message?" to "If you could use as many people as possible to help deliver this important message, how would you do that?". It was challenging to get people not only to be interviewed but to give an answer. Thankfully a friend of mine offered to help out with questioning. In all, I made six videos for their international event. This project was the first time I got to use a camera capable of 4K video. The camera spurred me to urge our youth group to get their own digital 4K camera, something I elaborate more on in my ignite blog from this year.

These final three events/projects are where a lot of my passions lie. If you've read my blog or know me at all you know I'm involved with my church, Eagle Church, so naturally a few of the things I invest my time in are church related. This year that (again) included ignite Camp (the square, black box logo above) our annual youth camp for Middle and High Schoolers. I've elaborated more on this in another blog post HERE.

My wife and I got to be a part of one of Eagle's mission trips this year. A team of 26 students and 8 adults (including myself and my wife) got to travel to San Lucas, Guatemala this summer on a mission trip with our high school youth group. Our team stayed at Casa Shalom, an orphanage in San Lucas that serves 100+ children. Our team did several work projects for the orphanage as well as played with many of the kids there. We also got to serve lunch to 240+ children in the remote village of El Rejón one day. I've been to Panama and Mexico before but it's been far too long. It was a pleasure and amazing opportunity to serve, and we were so blessed by the experience. The reason I included this event in this blog is because I designed the shirts our team wore (the LOVE logo above). Oddly enough, once we were in Guatemala and had the chance to sightsee one day, we saw several shirts at the market that looked a lot like our shirts. I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery! I also filmed/photographed while on the trip and generated the recap video you will see below.

This year my church, Eagle Church, went through a rebrand and I was fortunate enough to be a part of that process. This rebrand included a logo, but also a new sort of mission statement and purpose. It's always fun helping develop a logo. Sometimes there's more time (and money) than other times to develop something, and Eagle really valued putting a lot of effort into a new brand. A company named Fishhook took on the task of the design. My part in this was really just helping collaborate with some Eagle staff and the Fishhook team to get to the final look. Over the next few months however, I'll help take the logo and branding and implement it all around church - through print and digital materials.

For the longest time Eagle hasn't really had a logo. In the 90's Eagle used an eagle as a part of their logo, clever, right...? This was the time I became connected with Eagle. Once Eagle moved locations in the year 2000, they used an 'epersand' as it was called, as a part of their logo. It was like an ampersand except with an 'e' :) Very 2000's and cyber-savvy. Eventually the 'epersand' was dropped and the words 'Eagle Church' were used for the longest time. Until a couple of years ago, when Eagle added a cross to the logo. Another clever addition ;) This was done in addition to an actual sign being added to the physical building Eagle resides in. The building had never really had signage, aside from a street sign. I think with the building sign addition the staff wanted to spice the logo up with something, so a cross was added. It was the intention of Eagle these past several years to invest a lot of effort into an actual brand and that time finally came. On September 25th, 2016 Eagle officially revealed the new branding, which included an official 'visual identity guide' as well as colors and logo icon that Eagle can call their own and use to stand out from the crowd of surrounding churches and organizations vying for the public's attention. I really think this new brand will help put a face on who we are to the public and it's exciting when a church knows where they are going and can actually show it.

Below is a video I helped create showing many hands creating the new logo. We used it to promote/reveal the new logo/branding.

So needless to say, the Media Buff has been busy. These have been just a handful of main projects I've been working on/with this past year. Not to mention weddings that I'll blog about separately. If you've managed to make it all the way through this blog and are so inclined to share any comments you have, please do so! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

-The Media Buff

2016 - It's Been a Busy Year... So Far. Mega Blog Alert!