Genesis Bow Photoshop Composite

I have been working on a brochure design for the Lancaster Archery Foundation and wanted an image that I could wrap around the front and back of the cover. However, this original image was not nearly as clean as I would like it to be, so I tossed it in Photoshop and began to clean it up. Below is the original image. 

As you can see, there are a ton of tree branches, poles and wires throughout the background. The right side of the photo is on the front cover of the brochure so I definitely needed to remove the branches to the far right. Using various Photoshop tools such as the clone tool and patch tool, I was able to remove the clutter in the sky on the right side. On the left side, however, there was a bit too much to still keep the integrity of the coloring of the sky. I still roughly blended out the branches, but needed to find a stock image to replace the area behind the targets.

After searching for photos on Adobe Stock's website, I found the below image that I felt I could manipulate to work as part of the background. The perspective was similar and I wanted to keep the rural farm scene since the Foundation is in Lancaster, PA. While the color is way off from the original image, I knew I could adjust it so it will all work together.

I ended up only using the left part of this image, and in fact, I used it twice. The farm in the distance is shown in my composite, all the way to the single tree. I then actually flipped the image to complete the background behind the archer. I blended the sky so that it wouldn't be obvious that the photo has been reflected and used in two different parts of the composite. I carefully masked out the stock photos to blend with the background of the original image to create a seamless transition from the foreground and background.

After editing the colors in Camera Raw and using different curves layers, the pieces really began to work together. I also added a Gaussian blur to mimic the original photos depth of field. Of course, I had to clip out the targets in front of the new background, as well as the archer. I had to reconstruct some of the strings of the bow as well but creating shapes and blurring them to resemble the originals.

Once I felt that the images worked as a whole, I began to add some effects that were applied to the entire photo. I wanted to recreate the warm glow in the sky that is in the original image. I added a yellow oval, significantly blurred the shape, adjusted the opacity and adjusted the blend mode. I also added a photo filter layer to the composite to further tie the images and lighting together. 

Overall I am very happy with how the Photoshop composite turned out, and am now able to implement it in my brochure design. Stay tuned for a future post on the final project!

LAS Casey K. Digital Billboard

In July, Lancaster Archery ran a digital billboard campaign to advertise Easton arrows and promote Casey Kaufhold who was representing LAS at the games in Tokyo. The designs had to comply with strict guidelines set by the Olympic Committee. Additionally, I used co-op funds for these billboards, so I worked with Easton to get their approval on the design as well. Below is what we landed on for the main promotion.

My relationship working with Oaktree Outdoor Advertising has significantly grown over the years. Fortunately we are able to get a bit more bang for our buck when we advertise with them. Therefore, we were able to run an additional design to say "good luck" to our hometown hero, Casey.

To apply for our co-op funds I must provide documentation of our live billboards. The billboard company is great at providing these screenshots. Below is an example of what they look like.

This main billboard design can also be seen on my portfolio website at http://triciabaugher.com/portfolio-caseybillboard.html

TriciaBaugher.com

Most recently I've been spending my free time on recreating my portfolio website. It recently became a goal of mine to organize my work, files and portfolio to have everything in one place. Over the course of several years, I find that I have work on several different laptops and workspaces scattered within many different folders. I officially have an external hard drive that is organized with work from the past ten years or so, and better yet - a brand new portfolio website!

I started by sifting through the endless templates available for purchase on Theme Forest. This is a great place to find really creative templates to customize. I found one I liked and, well, could not for the life of me figure out where to start. It's been several years since I worked with code and this particular site was way more complicated than I could handle. Therefore, I went back to find a more simpler site that'd be based in HTML. I was relieved when I opened these files and they made a LOT more sense.

I ended up working in Dreamweaver with the code/design split view. I found this really helpful as I was essentially relearning how to edit code. Through lots of trial and error, I got the site to a point that I was extremely happy with. I created a few templates in Photoshop to have a consistent look to my images. I also wrote content for each project to provide additional insights into my thoughts and processes behind each design. 

I stripped the website template down to the bare minimum, having only my portfolio be the landing page and a simple about me page. I can always build upon this in the future, but for now I am really pleased with the simplicity. I tested the desktop and mobile versions relentlessly as the site is built to be responsive. I plan to continue to add a few more pieces of work to it, while keeping everything up to date. It feels great to have a working website again!

I also learned about meta tags throughout this process. I don't recall twitter cards and og meta tags back when I had been designing in HTML before. This again took plenty of trial and error, but anything can be found in a good ol' Google search.

Check it out for yourself! TriciaBaugher.com

Squarespace Website Mocks

Here are some new "glamour shots", aka Photoshop composites, of the two Squarespace websites I have designed at Lancaster Archery.

LancasterArcheryFoundation.org

CompetitionArcheryMedia.com

I find it very critical when mocking up website designs to include desktop and mobile versions. Tablet versions can also be included in the mocks when necessary. I always like to feature the index page on the desktop version and additional pages on other formats when able.

2021-2022 Lancaster Archery Catalogs

The 2021-2022 Lancaster Archery Catalogs began hitting mailboxes last Saturday. The now 580 page catalog consists of over 110 vendor advertisements, more than 450 pages of products, arrow charts, content pages and cover pages.

This year looked a bit different without the Archery Tradeshow (ATA) in January, but the catalog production process seemed to still go quite smoothly. We were able to start production a bit earlier since there was less travel, and we were able to complete production within three months. I led the production schedule to assure that we would hit our targets along the way. Everyone worked as a solid team throughout the entire process and we can all be proud of the final result!

Above is a glance inside at some of our bows we have included in our catalog. It also includes a push to the Lancaster Archery YouTube channel featuring a playlist of recent bow reviews. It was great to be able to inject some content throughout the catalog in addition to all of the products and advertisements.

Our social media coordinator launched some graphics and we began including catalog callouts in some print and digital ads. Below is a social graphic that includes the cover.

For our internal staff we also get spiral bound catalogs printed. These catalogs are a bit larger in size, feature a heavier paper weight to make them much more durable and a spiral to allow for more flexibility. I use mine throughout the year to keep notes on products and it is essentially the master of the production process for the following year.

They are certainly not a cheap option, however, they are produced with high quality that allows them to withstand paging through them daily, being tossed in bags during travel and adding notes throughout an entire year.

The digital catalog is also available at the link in the footer of LancasterArchery.com or directly here. Customers can page through digitally and click on item numbers to go to the product page on our website. Customers can also request a catalog and get one sent in the mail. Currently when you place an order on our site, you will also receive one with your order.

I hope everyone is enjoying the 2021-2022 Lancaster Archery catalogs. A lot of time and effort goes into creating these, and I am happy to say I believe this is the best one yet. I look forward to continuing to improve processes to make production go smoothly and also find more solutions to make this an even better resource guide for archers and dealers.

Terre Hill

A little over two years ago, we bought our first home in Terre Hill, Pennsylvania. In true fashion, I wanted to design a few décor items for our home. The main being a canvas to hang in the entryway right inside our front door. The canvas would be seen coming into the home, and also from the one hallway. 

I loved the concept of overlapping typography and decided to do a large "B" for our last names in the background with "Terre Hill, Pennsylvania" in a script typeface on top of the "B". I experimented with various background colors and textures until landing on a light wooded image. I also included our settlement date, which has actually been quite nice to reference the exact day! 

The large "B" is in Baskerville, one of my favorite serif fonts. The location is in a version of the very popular script font Bombshell. The date is also in Baskerville to tie everything together.

I then had this printed on a canvas, which added another textural element. The finished product is 13" x 36". Overall I am very pleased with how this canvas came out. It's a nice bright and unique piece for our home.

Lancaster Archery YouTube Thumbnails

Each fall bow companies work hard to launch their new bows for archery enthusiasts to get excited about and head out to their local pro shops. Lancaster Archery Supply will get these bows in and do thorough bow review videos. The content of these videos is unmatched, and they get a lot of views on YouTube. One way we improved these pieces of content this past year was to create custom YouTube thumbnails for our bow reviews. I essentially created a template to include the LAS logo, the bow brand, bow name, a screenshot of the bow in the video and then a clipped image of the bow from a product photograph. Most of these product bows are outlined to really pop off of the video thumbnail and stand out.

We noticed a significant increase in clicks with these custom thumbnails as it really makes it easier on the viewers to know exactly what they are ready to watch. When you look at these thumbnails in a sea of others on YouTube, they truly do pop.

Below are a few of the thumbnails I had created in the past year to increase viewer engagement.

Bri's Business Cards

 I'm still catching up with some different projects I've done over the past few years. This one goes all the way back to August of 2019. A friend, Bri, asked if I could design a business card for her as she began her career as an esthetician. She came with some inspiration and then I took it to pencil and paper.

The concept revolved around half of an elephant face, wildflowers and color. Below shows my initial sketch of a full elephant and then half of it traced with micron pen and wildflowers sprinkled in the background.

From there I scanned the drawing into Adobe Illustrator and did an image trace of half of the elephant to transform it into a vector file. I always do a bit of cleaning up to make the line work more smooth. An image trace at the right threshold can do a decent job, but it always looks better tidied up.

At this point, I took the vector image above into Adobe Photoshop. I wanted to add some splashes of color, almost in a bohemian style. I used various brushes, transparencies, splatters, etc. to get the final image.

To finish up this project for Bri, I mocked this image on a couple different business card concepts so she can see some different color, typeface and patterned concepts.

This was definitely a project I was excited about and it was easy to get inspired to create the final product. Cheers to successful friends!

Lancaster Archery Foundation

The Lancaster Archery Foundation launched late spring 2021. Designs and concepts have been in the work for quite some time before that. Design-wise it all started with the logo. I wanted to create something that was clean, modern and simplistic while tying it to the Lancaster Archery brand. I experimented with typeface weights, stacking and the orientation. Below is the final logo.

From there I began to design a website via Squarespace. I started with a Squarespace template and designed several page mocks in Photoshop. From there I created an outline of copy needs for the Foundation team to complete the content of the site. 

I began sourcing images for the different pages. For images we needed, such as the board of director photos, I found examples to give to our in-house photographer. Eventually when all images and content were compiled, we were able to pull everything together for the website.

At launch, the website consisted of eight different pages utilizing various template components including a contact form and donation page. Our in-house videographer created a video for the Foundation launch and I designed a YouTube thumbnail for that video.

Overall this project took a great deal of coordination to get various departments communicating, making decisions and gathering assets for the launch. In the end it came together quite well. 

Check out the current website here: LancasterArcheryFoundation.org

Lancaster Archery Shooter Jersey Design

Earlier this year us two designers at LAS were tasked with designing new archery shooter jerseys. We usually launch a new design each year. This year we happened to launch four: two unisex designs and two female designs. This was my first year really designing for a shooter jersey. I looked at a LOT of motocross jersey designs for inspiration. Overall I really appreciate their minimal designs so the focus can be on sponsor logos while still being cool. Thor, FXR and O'Neal all use blocks of color in a very interesting way.

The design that was liked and ultimately put into production was a retro-focused design. It features a large, bold, modern typeface on the front. I added a bunch of sharp angles on the front and back balancing a dark blue and light gray. The light gray has a subtle honeycomb texture applied. Finally, the LAS logo is featured on the one sleeve to pull it all together.

Initially I wanted the stripes to be simply different shades of blue. After reviewing with Management they asked to include a red stripe as well to pull in more target colors. Below is a final mockup of the jersey.

Below are all of the designs on display at the Lancaster Archery Express that travels to the various archery shoots.

Get your jersey here! 

Chester County APA Monday North Champions

On Monday our 8 ball team played the final match of the Spring 2021 session in Chester County's APA Monday North league. The previous week we had qualified for regionals with a win. This week we were playing for trophies and the number one spot this session. 

Typically we play 5 matches a night with a ton of strategy in who we call and when. We were fired up and managed to win the night with only having to shoot 4 matches. I would have shot the 5th and final match if it came to it, but we were all excited to clinch the victory as soon as possible.

Now we look forward to regionals in both 8 ball and 9 ball come the end of July!

Lancaster Archery Camo Apparel

 Last year I had designed some camo apparel for Lancaster Archery. Many companies apply a camo pattern as a fill to their logo and I thought it'd be perfect for Lancaster Archery. I also wanted to incorporate the American flag on the sleeve. Not only does the flag appeal to those who have served our country, but with 2020 being an Olympic year, I wanted to incorporate some USA pride.

I designed a t-shirt and hoodie simultaneously. I went with a black hoodie and a brown shirt. To keep the cost down on an already 4-color design, I made sure the same camo coloring would look good on both colored garments. Below are the design mocks I sent over to the screen printer.

I worked with the printer to select the right Pantone colors that would work for both garments. Once we got the samples in, our in-house photographers were able to take photos for our website.

Archer Chris Bee was rocking one of the t-shirts at the Lancaster Archery Customer Appreciation Event this month:

Get yours at Lancaster Archery! T-shirt | Hoodie

PA Hunting & Trapping Digest

Each year we run advertisements in the surrounding state hunting & trapping digests. They have a great reach, so the ad ticket price is relatively high. To help offset the cost, we typically look to use co-op advertising funds and co-brand our advertisements. In 2019 we linked up with Black Eagle Arrows to produce the ad below.

In 2020 and 2021, we have advertised alongside Easton. Easton has their own source of hunting lifestyle photographs, which makes it a smooth process to design and get an ad approved. Below are the two most recent advertisements.

This year we are featured on page 47 of the PA Hunting & Trapping Digest distributed by the PA Game Commission. Check it out!

Galaxy Ads in Bow International

 Below is an ad refresh for the Galaxy brand in Bow International's printed magazine. The ad features more copy than we traditionally include on advertisements as well as the composite photo I had done for the Galaxy catalog (view post). 

Below is a half page ad for Galaxy that was also included in Bow International's print publication. This one featured the Olympic risers and also included a composite from the Galaxy catalog.

Lastly, below is another full page ad refresh we had run in the past. This ad focused on including a composite of a recurve riser and pairing it with various limb options.

Inside Archery Advertisements

Inside Archery is a printed and digital magazine that focuses on dealers within the archery industry. We have a great relationship with Inside Archery and run monthly advertisements in addition to content pieces. Our messaging and advertising revolves around wholesale, dealers and the benefits of being a dealer with Lancaster Archery Supply. Below are three examples of various advertisements we have run around this direction.

Checkout the digital edition of Inside Archery here to see our latest ad and content.

LAS Bowhunter's Extravaganza

Each year the Lancaster Archery showroom hosts the Bowhunter's Extravaganza in August. It's one of the biggest sales for LAS and allows archers to get geared up for the hunting season. In Marketing, we design, print, cut, finish all of the sales signage needed for the pro shop. Additionally, we run several print advertisements in local publications. We also design and send out a mailer to LAS customers within a specific radius. 

The Extravaganza mailer is 12 page mailer printed in color, front and back that we get printed locally. We have a tall list of products to include in the mailer to get archers excited. When designing, it can be a good challenge to make all of the products fit within the 12 pages in an organized manner. Below is the design I came up with for last year's event.

Casey K's Archery Scorebook

Casey Kaufhold had an idea to create a target archery scorebook to track her arrows for indoor and outdoor shoots. I started designing based off of a printed example that had a lot of the content Casey wanted to include in her version. After a few rounds of proofing, we added some additional fields for note taking that her and her coaches thought would be relevant information to document. From there I used a local printer to get an estimate.

I wanted these booklets to be durable for Casey and other archers as they travel a lot. For outdoor events, weather and other elements occur, so I considered this as well when choosing cover paper. We also wanted to go with a wired spiral for durability and also being able to have the booklet lay flat and be compact for use and travel.

I kept the inside of the design black and white to keep the cost down for printing. On the outside, Casey wanted blue for indoor and green for outdoor. I designed a graphic-forward cover in Illustrator that included splatters, targets, arrows and a silhouette of Casey herself.

The 5" x 8.5" 48-page booklets are available on the Lancaster Archery website.