Plan the year before it arrives.
How far ahead to send the seasonal work, how long each kind of project usually takes, and the days we are at our desks. Not a complete list of everything a church marks, but it covers what we design year after year.
Early is cheaper than fast.
Lead time is the one lever that changes the work rather than just the schedule. A designer who gets a Christmas brief in September can build a series that holds together across six weeks of slides, print, and social. The same designer with eight days can only make each piece look right on its own.
The lead times below are the ones that let that happen. They count business days, and they stretch in the two seasons where every church is asking at once.
Landmark events, and their lead.
Lead time, not dates. Most of these move every year, so what is published here is how far ahead of the day itself to get the request to us. Count back from your own calendar.
Lent and Easter
- Ash Wednesday3 weeks of lead time
- Palm Sunday10 days of lead time
- Maundy Thursday10 days of lead time
- Good Friday3 weeks of lead time
- Easter Sunday3 weeks of lead time
Winter, spring and summer
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day10 days of lead time
- Daylight Savings Time starts10 days of lead time
- National Day of Prayer10 days of lead time
- Mother's Day3 weeks of lead time
- Pentecost3 weeks of lead time
- Memorial Day10 days of lead time
- Father's Day3 weeks of lead time
- Independence Day10 days of lead time
Autumn and Christmas
- Labor Day10 days of lead time
- Daylight Savings Time ends10 days of lead time
- Veterans Day10 days of lead time
- Thanksgiving Day3 weeks of lead time
- Christmas Day3 months of lead time
- New Year's Eve6 weeks of lead time
Christmas is the outlier and it is not a mistake. A full series with slides, print, social, and video is a September conversation if you want it to feel like one thing.
How long things usually take.
Use Send it by to plan. That is the full runway: your place in the queue, the design itself, your feedback, and the changes after it. Turnaround is our best estimate for you, and it can shift a bit depending on how full the queue is. To set you up for success, treat Send it by as the date you are actually planning around.
These are a general guideline. Christmas and Easter run longer, and we would always rather have the request early.
Graphics and print
Series artwork, event pieces, and anything that goes to a printer.
2 to 3 business days
- EventsSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Sermon seriesSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Easter and ChristmasSend it by 3 weeks before you need it.
- Weekly bulletin updateSend it by Monday, end of day.Delivered by end of day Friday. A request that arrives after Monday is not guaranteed inside the same week.
3 to 4 business days
- Poster or flyerSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- SignageSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- MerchSend it by 1 to 2 months before you need it.
- Social packsSend it by 5 days before you need it.
- Slide packsSend it by 5 days before you need it.
- Connect cardSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- PostcardSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
4 to 5 business days
- BrochureSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
5 to 6 business days
- Bulletin redesignSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
Video
Sermon production, bumpers, recaps, and anything with a timeline.
3 to 5 business days
- Announcement videosSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Lower third animationSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Full sermon productionSend it by Monday, 10am Eastern.Sermon production on its own comes back by end of day Tuesday when the files land by 10am Eastern on Monday.
- Sermon clipsSend it by The week of the sermon.Planned for use the week after the sermon is preached.
5 to 6 business days
- Event recap or promo videoSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Testimonial videosSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Sermon bumperSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
- Countdown videoSend it by 2 weeks before you need it.
Everything else
Work where the time genuinely depends on what you send.
Quoted per project
- Booklet/Large Layout projectsAsk first.Time depends heavily on the content. A text-heavy layout with no infographics or illustration moves faster than one where the assets have to be made first. Send the content to your Product Support Rep for an estimate.
Websites and branding, on All-In
These run in their own lanes and never count against the project queue above.
Website support
Sermon uploads post the same day when they are in by Monday noon Central. Text, image, event, and staff updates run 3 to 4 business days. A new page takes 5 to 10, so give it about three weeks if it is tied to a date. One task is worked at a time; the rest queue.
Brand support
A full branding build runs about 6 to 10 weeks from the strategy brief, most of your part spent reviewing. Ongoing brand requests work one at a time in their own lane, the same way website tasks do.
The pieces worth booking early.
Apparel and merch carry the longest lead on the table, 1 to 2 months, because they are printed by someone else after we design them.
When we are at our desks.
The Squad is fully remote, with Squad members around the world, and works US business days Monday to Friday. We are closed Saturday and Sunday so our team can be with their families and serve in their own churches. Turnaround figures on this page count business days only.
We are closed for
- Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday
- A 10-day Christmas break
- Some US federal holidays, including Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Labor Day
Revisions are the exception to the figures above. We aim to turn those around within a few business hours, though allow until the next business day in a busy week.
Got the dates. What happens after you submit?
The project lifecycle walks through every status, and the help center covers the rest of the day to day.
Project Lifecycle
Partner Help Center