I plopped my head down on the keyboard with an exasperated thunk.

I had sneezed or blinked or made some involuntary movement, and now one of the bulletin's text boxes was irrevocably misaligned.

I'd tried putting back where it had been for what felt like hours:

Arrow right. Arrow left. Undo. Backspace. Copy and paste.

No matter what I did, it just wouldn't "pop" back into place.

That's because when I first started as a bulletin editor 11 years ago, I was creating the bulletin in Microsoft Word.

And it was PAINFUL.

I groan to think of all the time I wasted every week just fighting with formatting.

(Let alone having to rework everything 22 minutes before the submission deadline to fit in that last minute request... Every single week.)

The worst part? All that time spent on design, and it wasn't even that attractive of a bulletin.

Like at least if I was spending all of this painstaking time making it, it would be nice if people actually read it?

But all I had to show for it was a bland, overstuffed bulletin that looked about as exciting as the owner's manual for a lawn mower.

(Don't worry, by the time I started at the next parish, I had learned how to use InDesign, and I redesigned that bulletin to look 10,000x better.

And guess what? It looked way better, more people took it, and it didn't take me so long to make because it was in software actually meant for design. Funny how that works.)

Listen, I know you probably aren't a trained graphic designer.

But I don't think you have to be to design an intriguing, visually-appealing bulletin that people actually want to pick up and read.

You don't need to create a lavish coffee table book every week for the bulletin to be attractive and effective.

You can do things like using real photos and graphics, keeping fonts and colors consistent, and creating white space / keeping it not overly crowded.

Trust me, those simple things work wonders.

And I promise, all totally doable, and not things that are going to add tons of time each week.

Your bulletin's design is really important, though, because that is the key thing that is making people decide if they are actually going to take it, and once they take it, if they're actually going to read it.

So during Bulletin Bootcamp, we're going to spend an entire week looking at your bulletin's design and layout.

• We'll create a brand guide for your bulletin (fancy name for a document that says what fonts and colors you use, among other things)
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• I'll give you design tips for organizing all that information cleanly so the bulletin doesn't feel like such a mess
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• And we'll go over how to make event promotions visually appealing (and get people to show up).

Whether you want to tear it to shreds and start over with a complete redesign, or just want to give it a facelift, you'll end up with a clean, clear, and beautiful bulletin your parishioners are clamoring to take — even if you don't have a graphic design background.

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Because the design of your bulletin is so crucial to its success as a communication tool, I'm even bringing in a guest instructor for that week to help us as we redesign our bulletins!

Lindsey Binion is an incredibly talented Catholic graphic designer and has also been a bulletin editor before. She'll be teaching us the basics of design for bulletin creation - but just the practical things you actually need to know, since she's done the bulletin before too so she knows what will help!

(Oh, and if you've been designing in Publisher and need to switch anyway, now is a great time to rethink the whole design and layout. During design week of Bulletin Bootcamp, I can also help you figure out which software would be best to switch to!)

Our churches are gorgeous, filled with art and architecture to praise and worship God.

Your bulletin should be the same.

But you don't need to go back to school for a design degree to elevate it. You just need these few design and layout strategies to turn your bulletin from boring to beautiful (plus the right software to support you).

Then even if you sneeze while you make it, it won't take you until the Second Coming to fix it.

​Enrollment is open now for Bulletin Bootcamp — I'll see you inside!

For His greater glory,

Emily

P.S. I didn't have graphic design experience when I started out in this work either! You can absolutely have a beautiful bulletin even if you don't have formal training in it — Bulletin Bootcamp will give you the basics you need to elevate your bulletin's design and make it more effective.

​Sign up now — we start Tuesday!​