I’ve been responsible for several commissions for the Church of the Mediator in Allentown, Pennsylvania over the years, including an earlier re-rendering of a longtime logo. With the call and institution of a new rector, the Rev’d Mr. Dale Grandfield, after his predecessor’s more than twenty-year tenure, I was tasked with a visual identity overhaul that was more suited to the media agnostic environment in which we live, that was divested of the kind of corporate business ‑style that seems to prevail, and which could be deployed bilingually. This was an exciting project that better captured the aesthetic of the 1950s church building and the warmth and good humor of the congregation.
We decided upon a hand-drawn design inspired by the glasswork of Leonids Linauts (b. 1914), a Latvian refugee who settled in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1949, and produced much of the chancel glass at the church. A palette of vivid, saturated colors were chosen that reflect those found in the stained glass and the primary logo itself was based upon the rose window on the north side of the chancel. Many of the illustrations were drawn from the windows or elements taken from them. The logo and word marks were designed in a mastered series of optical sizes, in English, Spanish, and in a conjoined bilingual format.
PROJECT
Mediator Visual Identity
CLIENT
Church of the Mediator
Allentown, Pennsylvania
WHAT I DID
Visual Identity,
Auxiliary Illustrations,
Web Makery
Rooted in Glass.
Drawn by Hand.
Made for Now.
Rooted in the vivid stained glass of Latvian artist Leonids Linauts, this visual identity for Church of the Mediator blends midcentury ecclesiastical modernism with the warmth of hand-drawn art. Centered on a stylized rose window, the design glows with saturated color and radial symmetry, evoking both sacred tradition and human welcome. Built for flexibility across media and languages, it avoids institutional sterility in favor of a visual language shaped by light, story, and community — a fluent expression of faith and hospitality.
