You have seen her handiwork across all kinds of digital and printed elements at LMPC, but you likely don’t know the person behind the art! Rachel Hinderliter has designed some big projects for LMPC over the past two years including special bulletin covers, event logos, and RENEW updates. Get to know her by reading the interview below.
1. How did you get into graphic design?
I always loved math growing up, and studied engineering in college. Around that time, I grew more interested in art and found myself painting, drawing, and learning new crafts in my free time. After becoming a mom, I continued to spend more time painting and learning photography, even starting a craft blog with step-by-step tutorials. During this time, I continued to learn about Photoshop and graphic design, and a few years later I started to create logos, flyers, social media content, etc. for small businesses.
2. What is your favorite part of the design process?
Sometimes a design project feels like a jigsaw puzzle: trying to fit together a lot of different elements coming from different people to reflect the brand while also reflecting my own vision and style. I can overthink things sometimes at the start of a project, and like a puzzle it can seem like the pieces won’t fit. But every time they do, and I really love the part of the process where all of the elements start to come together.
3. What inspires you?
I find a lot of inspiration in nature, especially in the beautiful flowers, birds, and trees here on Lookout Mountain. I’ve had a lot of fun trying to incorporate symbols or designs I find at LMPC, from the stained glass windows, to the altar, to the wood carvings on the pulpits. For example, this four-leaf flower is carved over the front doors, and other places in the church as well. I believe it is a quatrefoil and also symbolizes the cross, but it also reminds me of the beautiful four-leafed flowers of a dogwood tree. I’ve incorporated those into a couple of bulletin covers, and have more plans to use this design in the future.
4. What have been some of your favorite projects for LMPC?
I really enjoyed painting the Christmas bulletins this past year. Painting the front doors of the church with watercolors was a lot of fun, and it felt especially meaningful to create this image during this current period of RENEW, as a reminder of the beautiful things to come. I also really enjoyed creating the 2023 ministry report booklet. It was a fun challenge to try to fit so many different elements together in one book, and it was a blessing to get to see all the wonderful things that happened at LMPC in just one year. It has been such a joy working for LMPC and trying to capture the beautiful history of the church and the supportive community of people sharing God’s love with each other.
5. Do you have advice for anyone interested in graphic design?
Just get started and start small. A lot of programs like Photoshop and Illustrator can be overwhelming, so starting with a free program like Canva will make learning the other programs easier. And there are so many wonderful free tutorials online that can help you learn. It might not seem like much, but if you start by designing little things like birthday cards, invitations, thank-you notes, meal plans, etc., you will end up building a good foundation for learning more complex programs.
