Friday’s Mark: Using Art for Good

[image error]My Friday’s Mark guest this morning is the graphic designer for 61 Strong. She volunteers her services for the group as her way to fight human trafficking and social injustice. I will never forget the look on the group members’ faces when they learned they had a real graphic designer on the team, or when they saw their own logo for the first time. It encouraged them to keep fighting. It made them feel like they were being taken seriously and making a difference. I’m not sure if Krystahl, the young woman who so graciously donates her time, ever realized how important her contribution was to those children and young adults. So I asked her to write a short post about why she chose to spend hours designing a logo and shirts for a group of kids determined to change the world. It’s a perfect example of everyone doing what they do best to make the world a better place. ~Heather

Krystahl’s Story

I originally went to college to be a nurse and then from there train to become a physician assistant.  As a freshman, I did what every sure and wise freshman does and I changed my major.  Only half a semester into college, I optimistically began pursuing a degree in graphic design, the “practical, lucrative art major.”  I was always one of the best artists in a graduating class of a whopping forty-seven students, so why wouldn’t I choose to create art as a living?  I was ready to go, ready to sink my teeth into the industry of high fashion advertisements and Fortune 500 Company branding.

It all seemed so exciting, glamorous, and professional.  “Yes, I was a feature designer in the latest PRINT magazine,” I would dream of confessing at my high school reunion.  I wanted to turn the design world upside down, the same way David Carson did in the 90’s.  I was going to go places and reinvent magazines and companies along the way.  Fame and fortune while doing what I loved seemed like the top of the mountain to me.  My parents would be so proud of me. What else is there?

The beginning of my last year in college, I began to reap what my selfishness had sown.  Jesus went to bat with the Holy Spirit, and like a pitcher that either didn’t reach for the ball or get out of the way in time, I was leveled.  My motives lay bare in my field of dreams.  But in the middle my pain, I found joy as Jesus saved me from myself and the broken promises of this world.  The ones that said, “Do whatever makes you happy… do whatever feels right… success is the key to happiness.”  They were lies!

And all of a sudden I realized that I didn’t want to promote companies and fashion industries thriving on the greed of consumerism, selling stuff to people who already have too much stuff, a.k.a. me.  I wanted to make a difference with my graphic design.  God is still opening my eyes and changing my heart and now my convictions for giving a voice to the exploited and aid to the impoverished determine my clientele.

That’s why I can only say I have only been paid for one logo and a month standing in for designer at a large church.  Not that I am against getting compensated, but I am also okay with my compensation being souls for Jesus. I am honored and humbled to be a part of establishing God’s kingdom through design.

I love working with ministries that love people through the Holy Spirit and human trafficking abolition is a movement so near to my heart.  I am privileged to have the opportunity to work with 61 Strong.  I know He will use these amazing young people and so many others like them “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives.”  I pray you allow Jesus Christ to use you to bring hope to the hurting.

I think Heidi Baker explains the simplicity of the Great Commission best, “Just look for the ONE, just stop for the ONE.”

 

Check out Krystahl’s portfolio at http://krystahlgoodale.carbonmade.com/!

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