Prayer Cards

 

Sometimes, in ministry, I create prayer booklets for services, but often, a simple prayer card will suffice. Here are a few tips to create prayer cards that appeal to the eye as well as the spirit:

• Decide shape and size first. Consider how long the prayer is, and how it will best fit on a paper: a few long lines works better on a landscape orientation, while many short lines work well for portrair orientation. From there, decide how many cards you can fit onto a single sheet of paper: Two? Four? Six (three by two, or vice versa)? Eight? Use the ruler guides to add a grid accordingly; make sure you leave at least .25″ spacing as a margin on the outside, and .5″ margin on the inside for cutting.
• Do you need an image? If there’s already an image or logo that goes with your prayer, then by all means, include it! If not, and you have a little extra time and space on the paper, search for a picture to use with the prayer. This picture can stand on its own, or can be used as a faint background to the text. If you choose to go the latter route, find a picture with little to no sharp contrasts: similar colors, rather than black and whites. Use the contrast, brightness, and colorize features in the Picture Toolbar to lighten the picture so that black text can hold its own… or do the opposite: darken the picture until white text has the upper hand. Whichever you choose, remember that the entire block of text must be easily legible. You may have to try a few pictures to achieve this.
• Watch your layers. If your picture keeps covering up the text, or the text keeps jumping out of the picture’s way, use the “send to back” and “bring to front” features to get the layers to set nicely with each other. It may also help to set the photo’s “Wrap Text” setting as “Through,” rather than one of the other default settings.
• What font is best? Make sure it’s not too small, loopy, or decorative, especially if you want everyone to pray out loud together. Choose something simple. For more tips on fonts, colors, and themes, click here.

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