Print Design Advertising

AWA World-1 Wrestling / Valdosta, GA

Ramma-lamma-lamma – Rock n’ Roll is King! I always have fun when I create 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 lifelong passion for the subject matter.

Years ago, the AWA pro wrestling promotion was one of my main print and web design clients. During this time, the AWA was divided into several regional offices in the USA. An independent promoter ran each territory. The Georgia based World-1 South group hired me to create this poster for an upcoming event in Ellaville, GA. 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”, as well as 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.

Fischbach USA / Elizabethtown, KY

I created this packaging design for my former employer, Fischbach USA. Fishbach is an international company that leads the industry in producing sealant cartridges. These tubes typically contain caulk and other chemicals for both household and industrial use.

I worked in house at one of the US based 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 this special project in order to let me 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 center my design around the Earth and nature. 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 used for the design were both soy based and biodegradable.

The remaining copy centered around conserving Earth’s natural resources, so I went with a “clean Earth” theme. 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 just five solid ink colors. Therefore, I made the most of that limitation. I have always prided myself on making the most of limited resources in my clients’ print projects when needed.

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 I designed 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

Dogwood Lakes as it appeared in the early 2000s.

My coworker Ricardo Lowenstein conceived the adorable Top Dog character. He provided a total of four posed illustrations for me to use in the newspaper ad design series. I then dressed the pooch up in Photoshop to fit the themes of these events.

Top Dog portrayed many diverse characters for a variety of special occasions. TD dressed as a vampire, Uncle Sam, a jolly pirate, and a mariachi singer. He rode in a go-kart 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 might have felt limited by the black and white newspaper format. 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 newspaper ad design pieces.

The ads were so successful in getting the word out in Muhlenberg and Logan Counties that they attracted huge turnouts for the events. I always have fun reimagining characters in different scenarios in order to breathe new life into them.

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, in 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, lighthearted 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.