For many at Holy Trinity Dunfermline the church sign has been an issue talked about, debated and mulled over for many a year. The beautiful old sign was repaired time and time again but needed replaced. Our new sign is now sitting pride of place on Dunfermline’s East Port.
Our old church sign stood proud in a wonderful wooden frame for decades (if not longer) but as time went on and the rot made its way into the frame started to crumble. Multiple repairs kept the frame going, eventually however it was the signs holding up the frame, not how it is meant to be. Then as the country went into lockdown the patched up frame gave way to the power of the wind. We replaced it with two wonderful banners that stated ‘a church is its people’ as we all met online. It was a difficult time for everyone as we had to adjust and change. Like many things at the start of lockdown it was only a sticking plaster before something more permanent could be found.
In 2019 a whole rebrand of the church was looked at, a small dedicated group looked at how we could modernise. The website was in a sorry state and whilst the look and feel hasn’t changed much yet there is huge amount of work taken place behind the scenes. The content and structure was completely updated making the information not only easy to find but correct. We also took inspiration from the ancient Celtic symbol, that can be found right across our historic Scotland, for the Holy Trinity to create our own logo.
The next phase was to look at our signage. The signage has the most restrictions. It often leads to the shade of colour actually chosen for the whole brand due to the limitations of colour on the materials. It also has to meet strict planning laws and regulations which require sign off by the council. The design was chosen, application made and after a couple months permission was granted.
Around 12 companies bid for the work itself all with their own signs, technology and design. The winner of the bid was John Young signs. A local company who shared our vision and understood who we were and what we wanted to convey. With their expert help we managed to meet our ambitious plans for a stand out, modern sign that we could illuminate but would still be classy and in keeping with the values of the church. They delivered a step change in Church signage and we can not recommend them enough.
The aim of the project was to have it completed prior to Christmas. What better time than when the town is bustling with Christmas shoppers to highlight our church and visually tell people who we are and where they can find the Christmas message. Ahead of our week of Christmas Services it allows people to find and connect with us in multiple ways as our church has found our feet online in 2020 via YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The sign even features a QR code taking anyone with a mobile straight to our website with just one click.
The sign also allows us the space to advertise events through a changeable section. To start we have a photo that highlights this season and our focus during advent, we show our wreath from last year with our young church banner sitting in its usual place in-front of the pulpit. Whilst in 2020 our Young Church stopped meeting in person, the wreath needed to be moved up to the altar to be on camera for our streamed services and our sermons are no longer delivered from the pulpit. Yet all those things are still so vital, whilst church has completely changed in many ways it still carries the same message of love and kindness. If you or your group wants to advertise your event just get in touch and we can use that space to help you!
If you want to see our sign illuminated at night head to our let there be light article.
We hope our sign provides key information but more importantly shows we are a modern church in a wonderful 180 year old building and no matter who you are, We Welcome You.
