Print Design Advertising

Muhlenberg County Public Libraries

Greenville, KY

The library director Janet contacted me regarding this project. She needed me to turn this yoga poster design around shortly after New Years. Of course, I made time after the holidays for my long time clients. 

Yoga poster design story

Janet only provided the text to include on the flyer, and the format sizes I would need to design. I had worked with the library for many years, so she trusted my instincts to create the perfect promotional material. Of course, I instantly had a concept and color scheme in mind.

Initially, I envisioned a group of silhouettes performing yoga poses. Combining these with an ornate mandala pattern hearkened back to yoga’s origins in the country of India. I didn’t want to make the yoga poster design layout too busy. Therefore, I faded the mandala into the background.

I contrasted the dark, dull blue elements against the bright orange burst background. The images stayed simple. The background however included a three dimensional pattern. I fenced all of the elements in with a dotted white frame, which also helped emphasize the sponsor logos and tagline in white. These were located at the bottom and top, respectively.

For the yoga poster design’s main title, I chose a font containing characters similar to Hindi for the word “Yoga”. The capital “Y” moved up to make it more symmetrical. I set the words “IN THE LIBRARY” in another exotic font. I warped them in a waving flag shape. This added just the right amount of motion to the title.

Janet and the rest of the library staff loved the vibrant, inspirational design. It perfectly promoted that patrons could stick to their New Years resolutions, and get fit with a new exercise program.

Contact me for your own yoga poster design

Are you promoting an event centered around yoga, or another exercise? I believe that promoting fitness in your community is very important, and I would love to help! Contact me today!

Muhlenberg County Public Libraries

Greenville, KY

In previous years, I employed line art from Victorian age ads for MCPL’s annual Mother’s Day Tea. However, I decided to switch things up for the 2019 event. The library wanted to incorporate a theme to coincide with the Kentucky Derby. Therefore, I set out to create an authentically vintage library event poster.

Library event poster design story

I spent several hours studying minstrel show advertisements from years gone by, circuses, and other attractions. Their font treatments and type styles specifically caught my eye. These are crucial elements in capturing the look and feel of these posters. After much internal debate, I settled on a muted yellow, blue, and red color scheme. I then chose my fonts.

Library event poster typography

First of all, I employed a tall sans serif font called Kankin, reminiscent of those used in the vintage posters, for my my titles and large text. I outlined all of the large text in a thin black stroke in order to complete the period style. Next, I used the Wide Latin serif font, along with Trajan Pro, to spell out the rest of the content.

The director also suggested I incorporate some roses in the poster as part of the Derby theme, so I worked them into the main title. I situated one on either side of the words “Spring 2019” at the top to give it a little extra flair.

Horse outline used in library event poster

For a while, I had wanted to incorporate an image inside a silhouette, much like in many classic movie posters. Once the idea came to me, I jumped at the chance. The classic Victorian lady depicted could very well be on her way to a horse racing event of the day. I chose the silhouette of a jockey and horse that was the most obvious, since it was an action shot. The jockey is high up on the horse’s back, ready to cross the finish line, as the horse’s tail swishes in the wind.

Need a library event poster design? Contact me today!

Does your public library have a special event coming up? Then you need to hire a professional graphic designer to help with your advertising!  Contact me today.

Local Violence

Lexington, KY

I created this band sticker design for a new group based here in Lexington. Local Violence is a pop punk band that includes some friends from my local music scene. I have been designing band merch since 1999, so they reached out to me in order to help promote their band.

The finished product is ready for the masses! Here is a printed and die cut band sticker design.

Band sticker design story

The band already used a fist icon in their initial branding. They wanted to somehow incorporate it in a parody of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ iconic logo. I both cleaned up and recolored their existing fist art in red using Adobe Illustrator. Then, I added motion lines in red, so that it would mimic the Dodgers’ “flying baseball” image.

After that, I found a similar script font to replace the word Dodgers with “Violence” in blue. A few adjustments to the text made the font more authentic. Finally, the word “Local” tops off the design in a blue sans serif Varsity font. I spaced out the letters and also warped them with an arch effect.

At last, the baseball parody sticker art was complete.

Local Violence loved the finished band sticker design. They took advantage of a special promotion with Stickermule to both print and die cut their stickers. This created a white stroke effect around the design. The precise outline of the shape really stands out amongst other standard square and circle shaped stickers.

Hire me to create your band sticker design

Is your new band just getting your feet wet with merch? Perhaps you have been in the game for awhile and you all just need a fresh new design. Contact me today to hire me for your new band sticker design!

Muhlenberg County Public Libraries

Greenville, KY

At the end of each year, I create the Christmas event poster design for my hometown library system in Kentucky. This is always one of my favorite seasonal projects to plan and execute. I love being a Christmas poster artist!

Muhlenberg County’s annual holiday events take place at their Thistle Cottage location. Thistle Cottage is a converted historic home which is located in the county seat of Greenville, KY. Many local businesses sponsor the Christmas trees that go on display throughout December at the Jubilee of Trees.

Also, kids of all ages get to take pictures with Santa Claus himself one day during the proceedings. I love coming up with a new, distinct solution for this seasonal project each and every year.

Focal image in Christmas event poster design

Since I had previously made liberal use of stock photos for their campaigns, I did not want to repeat myself. A holiday theme can be limiting if you don’t put much thought into it. Therefore, I wanted to try something both different and distinct from past projects this year. Something special was in order!

I conceptualized a simple, flat illustration which would make use of a minimal number of colors. Not unlike TV’s South Park, the cut out style gave the promotional material a lighthearted feel.

First, I used the Adobe Illustrator application to create the focal image of the poster. I drew up a pint sized elf playing a medieval style trumpet to announce the events. I actually based the illustration on a picture of my three year old son from his birthday photo shoot. He is wearing an outfit which is modeled after Will Ferrell’s character Buddy from the film Elf. The green and gold uniform is complete with a red feather in his cap. A royal red flag draped over the trumpet, heralding the December event dates. I used a mix of antique style fonts that looked like they could easily adorn a Middle Ages castle.

A tiny, smiling fairy is sitting cross legged atop his trumpet. She holds a sparkling wand in her hand, and plotting holiday mischief. I actually based the pixie’s image on a photo I had taken years ago of my wife. I added wings and recolored her dress green like Disney’s Tinkerbell.

Additional elements in the Christmas event poster design

The snowy background scene in the posters consists of rolling hills and pine trees. I desaturated the trees’ colors to dull hues in order to make it obvious that they were far off in the background. The hill in the distance is also slightly darker to achieve that purpose. In addition to the elf and fairy, the foreground elements announce the ongoing Jubilee of Trees. I continued using the simple logo I created for the event years ago.

Also, a “want ad” style poster provides all of the details for the Pictures with Santa event. I chose a simple, one color “hipster” interpretation of Old Saint Nick. The silhouette image comes complete with ironic horn rimmed glasses. The client asked if the Santa Claus image was me, since my wife and son depicted the fairy and elf, respectively. A bright red waving banner with gold trim displays across the top. I set the poster’s main title in an Old English style font called “PlainBlack”.

Many fonts I considered from my font book were perfect, stylistically. Unfortunately, they were also too hard to read. That is a big no-no for a poster design, especially for the main title text. I made sure to select the perfect font, which was both legible and regal. The white space at the bottom displays a list of event sponsors. The Thistle Cottage logo I designed years ago also displays in a pale shade of blue. Last of all, I sprinkled faint snowflakes throughout the scene.

Christmas poster artist – adjusting image formats for different situations

The simplified Facebook ad featured my Thistle Cottage logo on the elf’s flag instead of the dates.

After I finalized the design, the library distributed the final product in a variety of print sizes. First, they needed it in the largest print format, which was an 11×17″ poster. I then resized the elements and rearranged them to fit in a half page handout. Next, I created two different sizes for two local papers’ print newspaper ads. Both of the publications have their own sizes and specs, so I had to follow them closely.

They also promoted the event extensively on their social media channels. I modified the design so that it would properly fit on the public library system’s Facebook Event page. Facebook’s graphics specs limit the amount of text that advertisers can use. The graphics themselves also need to be formatted so that the feature images are positioned in specific locations. This way, every part of the image will display as it should, regardless of which device users view it on. Thus, I had to get creative, so that I could fit it into that mold. This was no problem for me, of course. I always make sure to stay informed on current social media advertising trends.

Contact me for your Christmas event poster design

The staff at Muhlenberg County Public Libraries always tell me that they love my work. Why not try me, a dedicated Christmas poster artist, for your own event ad campaign? You might just become one of my repeat customers as well! Contact me today to get started!

AVOL

Lexington, KY

I created this ad campaign design for AVOL in Lexington, KY. It is a nonprofit which organizes AIDS volunteers. They loved the trade publication ads I made for them previously. Therefore, they contracted me for their biggest annual event campaign. For one day every September, local restaurants donate 25% of their proceeds to fighting AIDS. The organization needed a few different print sizes. These included an 11×17″ poster size and varying newspaper ad sizes, as well as bookmarks.

Ad campaign design story for AIDS benefit

Ad campaign design in marquee format at CRAVE Festival, Lexington, KY

My local chapter of the AIDS charity gave me creative freedom on this project. They only suggested a retro 1950s diner theme. They also sent a few public domain images to inspire me. These included the vintage waitress illustration I finally chose. I also redesigned their existing event logo with a new one which continued the theme. After my instructions, I poured through old 1950s ads for inspiration. Their futuristic floating shapes and pastel color palettes, as well as the kitschy mixed fonts made the cut.

I arranged these elements to suggest motion and give them a fun feeling overall. I did this by tilting text blocks and highlighting objects with different shades. A pink gradient gives shine to the restaurant and sponsor lists. The ad pieces had many moving parts, from the list of participating restaurants to information about a related art exhibit. I got creative to ensure synergy and legibility from the biggest to smallest versions.

I met the challenge of making the ad art both attractive and easy to read. Also, I crushed the deadline in plenty of time for last minute revisions. My clients raved about the finished product.

Contact me for your ad campaign design

I’ve improved the print images of many charity nonprofits and small businesses. Contact me today to join the growing list. Let’s get started with your advertising campaign!

Hiram Grooming Co.

Lexington, KY

I created this can label design for my friend Jeremiah’s “3rd Degree” beard balm. He needed both a logo design and packaging design for his new business venture Hiram Grooming Co. Each of his products is all natural, vegan, organic, fair trade, and handmade “to make good men look better”. His can labels required a clean, simple black and white layout with a short turnaround, so naturally he gave me a call.

Can label design story

The finished product!

Jeremiah had initially sketched up a layout for me in Microsoft Publisher. I redesigned it in Adobe Illustrator with cleaner imagery and upgraded fonts as he had requested. Just as he did with his logo, Jeremiah provided some vintage masonic art to recreate.  The coffin imagery was from an old drawing featured in The Freemason’s Manual. It of course represents mortality, as well as craftsmanship, with the hammer and shovel tools. I cleaned up the image and then redrew it as a vector graphic in Illustrator.

I also redrew another low resolution banner graphic that is often found in traditional masonic imagery. The three tenets of “Strength, Wisdom, Beauty” are a perfect fit for a men’s hair care product. The milgrain border ties all of the elements together with a touch of class. Usually for packaging design work, I tend to stick with just one or two fonts. However, in this case, I used a variety of vintage fonts throughout the label design. I then laid them out in the same style as many Victorian era products and ads. The result is a classic design indicative of a salve that a true renaissance man can appreciate.

Contact me for your can label design

Do you manufacture your own grooming or healthcare products? Do they come in cans or tubes? You need the perfect packaging design to appeal to your customer base. Contact me to get the ball rolling!

Muhlenberg County Public Libraries / Thistle Cottage

Greenville, KY

For the second year running, MCPL once again hired me to make their annual Victorian Tea poster design. I started by laying this design out in kiosk size. Then, I resized the art into several smaller formats. Half page newspaper ads were the smallest size.

Thistle Cottage holds their annual Victorian Tea in downtown Greenville, Kentucky. The party is a Victorian themed event where both mothers and daughters dress up and enjoy a traditional tea party. It is a popular event where families can go back to experience a simpler time in history that their ancestors once knew. The air of nostalgia brings little girls’ tea parties to life. Servers and staff also dress in period attire. An elegant event such as this called for an equally classy poster design.

Victorian Tea Poster Design in Kentucky

I really enjoy sifting through vintage Victorian ads. Obviously, I patterned this poster design after them. I started with the featured black and white illustration of the mother and daughter characters. The poster’s background is dressed in a “shabby chic wallpaper” pattern with the drab colors that were fashionable in that era.

My favorite feature of any good Victorian ad is the variety of fonts and dingbats in use. Artists seem to always use a dozen fonts in any given piece. It looks like the advertiser aimed to use as many fonts as possible in one space. These warped font styles often remind me of the circus. It’s as if the carnival barker pulled double duty and was also hired to design the poster layout. Both the teapot and pointing finger ornaments give the composition an old time “over the top” feel. Step right up!

Contact Me For Your Victorian Tea Poster Design

Are you hosting a retro event? Contact me today for your own poster design!

Misty Mountain String Band

Louisville, KY

Misty Mountain String Band’s banner design on display at a show.

After designing MMSB’s CD layout for “Went to the Well”, the band returned, asking me to create a large banner design. This three foot by five foot vinyl banner travels with the band and helps the boys look professional when on stage.

Banner design for Kentucky bluegrass and folk band

The affable string band sound describes their sound as “What it sounds like when a banjo smiles.” Similarly, this banner is both warm and inviting. The large banner layout features text and ornaments arranged in a vintage two color “show poster” style. First, I set the stage with a neutral color background with a rough burlap texture. I then mixed the two big, bold fonts for the main title in bright orange.

Afterward, I reversed the words “Misty Mountain” out of a long orange block using a Western style font. This is a divider in the middle of the main title to break the banner design up visually, and it function as ground for the squirrels to stand on. I set the rest of the band’s name in a heavy sans serif style font. I randomly nudged the position of some of the letters in order to give the title the appearance of being manually screen printed by a letterpress such as Nashville’s Hatch Show Print.

After that, I added the band’s requested twin squirrel and banjo line drawings in a bold, dark green. This gives the overall design a natural feel with more weight. Finally, I added some distress to the entire banner design composition using a grunge pattern eraser. How much more bluegrass can you get? The answer is none – none more bluegrass!

Graphics for your concert promotional banner design

Are there big summer music festival bookings in your future? Do you need a large banner design to make your group look more professional on stage? Contact me today to get started!

Main Street Costumes

Greenville, KY

The living dead returned, roaming the streets of Western Kentucky for the sequel to 2011’s Zombie Walk event! The previous year’s undead themed charity walk was a huge success. Therefore, Main Street Costumes once again called me for event promotion design. The small town costume shop printed variations of this artwork as eight feet long banners, postcards, and t-shirts.

Since this was the second annual event, I multiplied the featured zombies by two. I felt that the stock image of the purple female zombie was a tad too immodest for a family event, so I photoshopped more clothing to cover her. I also adjusted some proportions of the characters to better fit the space.

Then, I drew the red “2” so that the second event artwork would call back to 1980s slasher film sequels. The brightly colored characters and titles pop off of the stark background. I used the heavyweight Gotham font for the copy. See my work on display in this Youtube commercial for the event:

Screen printed shirt for event promotion design

I rose to the challenge of simplifying the full color poster and card designs to create a three color screen printed shirt. Since my background includes over five years of working in the screen printing industry, it was second nature to me.

My client agreed that we should reduce the art to pink and purple with white highlights. We stuck with the black background for the shirt. Black therefore functions as a de facto fourth color, outlining the words and images, and coloring hair and grunge elements.

Contact me for your own event promotion design

Are you planning a community event such as a costume party, fundraiser, or fun run 5K race? Contact me today! I will bring your vision to life.

Main Street Costumes

Greenville, KY

My longtime friends Clint and Lori Cobb built their successful local costume shop Main Street Costumes from the ground up. They bolted onto their successful eBay store with a brick and mortar. It fast became a fixture in my small hometown of Greenville, KY, famous for the giant skull in the window. When they started planning a “Zombie Walk” event to benefit a local charity, Clint and Lori called on me to create a promotional design. They  featured this zombie poster design on 3’x5′ banners, postcards, and t-shirts, as well as other mediums.

Zombie poster design story

I set out to create a feel that was somewhat gory, yet still lighthearted enough for families. First, I began with the stock featured image, a white eyed “walker”. The gruesome figure, complete with green decaying skin, a tattered shirt, and disheveled hair, still needed a little work. I felt that the size of his head was too small. Therefore, I used Adobe Photoshop to adjust it. Additionally, I tweaked a few colors and features before moving on to the rest of the poster.

In order to make the rest of the elements pop against the black background, I used bright colors. The zombie is outlined in a bloody red splatter, and his head juts in front of the event logo to add depth. Bright yellow and orange banners zig zag across the front like caution tape to display the event details. I used a frenetic, handwritten style font to give a comic book feel. The debut event was a huge success, since it drew over 350 costumed “zombies” to Main Street in the heart of Muhlenberg County.

Contact me for your zombie poster design or any other event promotion

Are you holding a zombie or horror themed event? Perhaps a Halloween bash for your local community? Contact me today!

AWA World-1 Wrestling

Valdosta, GA

Ramma-lamma-lamma – Rock n’ Roll is King! It is always fun when I have a project that involves one of my outside interests. Whether it’s designing band merchandise such as one-inch buttons, or a wrestling poster design such as this one, I always have an edge because of my passion for the subject matter.

Years ago, the AWA pro wrestling promotion was once one of my main clients. During this time, the AWA was divided into several regional offices in the USA run by independent promoters. The Georgia based World-1 South group hired me to create this poster for an upcoming event in Ellaville. A tournament featuring 80s stalwart tag team stars the Rock n’ Roll Express was the main event of the evening.

Old school pro wrestling poster design

I poured through a few of my old coffee table wrestling books to find the perfect old photo to feature. Ricky and Robert are putting their dukes up, ready for action. Then I scanned in an old bandanna to frame in the classic babyface team. My actual bandanna was turquoise, but I recolored it pink to make it pop over the blue grunge background. I used the Mesquite “Wild West” style font for the main title “Old School Tag Team Tournament”, and a grunge stamp style font throughout for a strong, masculine feel. The vintage disco style font for the words “3rd Annual” tops the design off with a flamboyant flair. Finally, I tilted the elements in the foreground to help the art catch a few more eyes.

Hire me for your wrestling poster design

We made a big hit with this new school take on an old school design. Are you a promoter with an upcoming wrestling or sports event? You need a professional poster design! Tag me in and we’ll make history together!

Fischbach USA

Elizabethtown, KY

I created this packaging design for my former employer, Fischbach USA. Fishbach is an international company that is the world’s leading producer of sealant cartridges. These cartridges typically contain caulk and other sealants for household and industrial use.

I worked in house at one of the US offices, which is located here in Kentucky. Most of the work I performed during my time there involved updating text on other companies’ arts. Companies such as DAP and GE come to mind. In this case, my employers assigned me a project to flex my creative muscles.

I designed this screen printed promotional item in order to tout the company’s environmentally friendly practices. Fishbach only requested that I use a certain set of colors and devise a nature theme. They also provided me with the copy for the tube. The rest of the details were up to me.

Environmentally friendly packaging design

This special run cartridge featured a conservation theme. As such, Fischbach partially manufactured it with recycled plastic and then tinted it a faint shade of green. The tube stated that the inks on the design were both soy based and biodegradable. Since the copy centered around conserving Earth’s natural resources, I went with a “clean Earth” theme. The green grass meets blue skies. A refreshing dewdrop and a globe surround the rolling hills. You can almost smell the fresh air!

Our screen printing process limited me to using five solid ink colors. Therefore, I made the most of that limitation. I have always prided myself on making the most of the least resources in my clients’ print projects.

Contact me today for your own packaging design

Do you need a packaging design that stands out above your competitors? Trust a graphic designer with the skill and experience you need. Contact me today!

Dogwood Lakes Camping Resort

Dunmor, KY

I created this newspaper ad design series while working for Dogwood Lakes Camping Resort in Dunmor, KY. The long beloved Western Kentucky campground held annual motorcycle rallies and concerts during my time working as their in-house Graphic Designer. Dogwood Lakes also held smaller community events such as yard sales. Holiday parties and haunted houses also became popular. The campground had grown in recent years, so my employers let me design these ads to promote their upcoming events. The Greenville Leader News and the Central City Times Argus local papers featured the ads.

Newspaper ad design for clients in Kentucky

My coworker Ricardo Lowenstein conceived the adorable Top Dog character. He provided a total of four posed illustrations for me to use in the ads. I then dressed the pooch up in Photoshop to fit the themes of these events. Top Dog portrayed a motley crew of characters that included a vampire, Uncle Sam, a jolly pirate, and a mariachi singer. He rode in a go cart for Memorial Day, hawked a velvet Elvis painting for the yard sale event, flew a kite, and munched on a yummy chocolate bar.

Other designers probably would have have considered the black and white newspaper format to be a limitation. However, I chose to look at it as a challenge. Without colors, I still used the elements I had on hand to create vibrant and fun advertisements. The ads were so successful in getting the word out in the communities of Muhlenberg and Logan Counties that we had some huge turnouts for the events. I always have fun reimagining characters in different scenarios in order to breathe new life into them.

Contact me for your own newspaper ad design

What can a professional newspaper ad design do for your business? Old school is still cool! Contact me today to get started.

Dogwood Lakes Camping Resort

Dunmor, KY

Dogwood Lake(s) was a popular campground which featured two man made lakes. I grew up in Western Kentucky, just a few miles away from the park’s location in rural Dunmor, bordering Logan County. I have many fond memories of swimming there as a kid, as well as watching their fireworks displays on the Fourth of July. During this period, Dogwood Lakes also operated an amusement park on site. The camping site held many special events throughout the year. I laid out and updated their annual print brochure design when I worked there on site in the early to late 2000s.

Print Brochure Design story for Western Kentucky Campground

This twelve panel fold out features on site photos Dogwood provided me. These demonstrate the fun activities potential visitors could expect. I also used several images of their mascot Top Dog. Talented illustrator Ricardo Lowenstein created TD. I dressed the lovable furball up in a variety of festive costumes to suit each of the events’ descriptions. Top Dog starred as a racecar driver, Uncle Sam, a pirate, as well as other fun characters. I also took this approach for Dogwood’s newspaper event ads.

I colored the print brochure design background simply in vibrant gradients of blue and yellow. These hearken to sunshine and clear blue waters, the perfect backdrop for outdoor fun. I set the main titles in the bold Badaboom font. Thus, the whole piece retains a fun, comic book style feel throughout. Recipients unfolded these big, beautiful brochures, and instantly knew they were in for a good time when they visited the park.

Let me create the perfect print brochure design for you!

No matter how complicated the design, or how large you need the brochure to be, I’ve got you covered. If you need the perfect brochure art, contact me today!