Why Gather looks the way it does
Gather is a centred, airy neighbourhood church site with a big sans-serif headline, a pill navigation and almost no decoration. It trades ornament for space so the welcome message does the work.
- Built for
- Newcomers and people recovering from a bad church experience, especially those who want a low-pressure look at what Sunday is like.
- Navigation
- Floating rounded pill that sits over the hero photo. On phones, a bottom tab bar plus a quick-links launcher.
- Pages
- Home, About, Visit, Groups, Messages, Events, Give, Contact
- Hero
- Centred headline over a three-photo collage.
Typography
Figtree is used for both headings and body text, in bold for headlines and regular for paragraphs. One geometric sans keeps the page quiet and consistent, and its friendly letterforms stop the minimalism from feeling cold. The headline sits at about 80 pixels, with plenty of line spacing.
Colour
White (#FFFFFF) is the page, with near-black green text (#16231C), a forest green (#2F6F4F) for buttons and a small amount of sunny yellow (#F2C14E). The dark theme moves to a deep green-black with mint (#6FCB9F). Green reads as calm and outdoors, and yellow adds a little warmth without dominating.
Layout and navigation
A white pill navigation floats near the top with the logo on the left, links in the middle and Give on the right. The page below is centred and generously spaced, with outlined cards and a three-photo arrangement. Fewer elements per screen means a visitor sees the invitation and the Sunday time first.
The hero
The hero is a centred headline, 'A church that feels like a neighborhood.', with a single line about coffee and a Sunday time under it. A pale green circle sits off to the right as the only decoration. Below, three photos at staggered heights show people outdoors.
Calls to action
'Plan a visit' is the solid green pill and 'What to expect' is the outlined pill beside it. The second button answers the most common nervous question. A small status chip below the buttons says when the next service starts.
Photography
Photos are bright, outdoors and in daylight, with raised arms against a sky and group shots in a park. Staggering the three frames makes the row look like a casual photo wall. The images do not show a building, so the church feels like a group of people rather than an institution.
Accessibility
Dark green text on white measures about 16 to 1, and white on the green button about 6 to 1, both comfortable. The nav links are plain text with clear spacing, and buttons are large. Colour is never the only signal for a link or a state.
Type system
- DisplayFigtreeFigtree's even, rounded geometry reads as modern and friendly without trying to be clever.
- TextFigtreeUsing Figtree for body copy as well keeps the page consistent and makes it easy to read on phones.
Colour and contrast
Each text pairing is checked against WCAG 2.2 in both themes. Ratios are computed from the exact theme colours.
