LAS Handbook

Earlier this year Lancaster Archery distributed a new employee handbook. I was tasked with working with HR to create and source a printed product. I worked with a local print vendor to get estimates on several different booklet options. 

The final product was an 80 page 9" x 12" spiralbound booklet. The text pages were black and white to keep it cost-efficient. The cover was a heavier paper weight and full color. The inside back cover features a pocket to allow for employees to add additional handouts of policies as they happen throughout the year.

The cover was definitely the place where I was able to be the most creative. There were some design elements incorporated within the book, but primarily it was simply neatly set text. I had looked at several different sources for cover inspiration prior to landing on the below.

For the cover, I knew I wanted a collage of images. I wanted to include a photo that represents the size of the company. I also wanted to include various photos of people within different departments - some candid, some not. I also really like when color runs from the front cover and onto the back cover. Also on the back cover I wanted to include the LAS tagline "Leading the World in 3D & Target Archery."

2020 Lancaster Archery Classic Patch

Last January, Lancaster Archery hosted the 2020 Lancaster Archery Classic at Spooky Nook Sports Complex. The event was a huge success again, but like any event, it took a lot of time and effort. Each year we design a new event t-shirt and hat. I had come up with a design that worked very well for a patch hat and sticker. Below is the black and white of the final version.

To finalize the design, we went through a few color variations. Overall I wanted to focus on red, white and blue. 2020 was to be an Olympic year, so I wanted something that felt patriotic and somewhat represented the USA. Not to mention, the red, white and blue color scheme lines up well with the archery target colors and the LAS logo. Below were the final three designs I had proposed.

The second design was preferred, but the small target on the bottom was changed to the blue, red and yellow rings to stay true to the targets used at the Classic event. 

As of now there are still some hats available at https://www.lancasterarchery.com/2020-lancaster-archery-classic-hat.html 

LAS Apparel: Women's Wild One Tee

I LOVE apparel design! One of my favorite shirts I have designed for LAS was this Women's Wild One Tee. Like most of my best apparel designs, this one began as a hand drawn sketch.

The goal was to create something feminine for the female archer/hunter. I spent a lot of time finding the right shirt sample-something feminine, flattering for many body types, and also a decent fit since so many women's shirts run small. For the sketch, I went in a floral/bohemian approach.

From there I brought the sketch into Illustrator and converted it to a vector file. It took a decent amount of touch ups and tweaks since the sketch was generally small and rough. I experimented with different colors and potential garments, before ultimately landing on the Anvil Women's Freedom Tee in rose with a white and black design. I added in the "Lancaster Archery Supply" text subtly below the right antler to add some LAS branding without taking away from the overall design feel.

The grey pictured above represents the knocked out pieces. Therefore, this could be screen printed with only black and white ink. The grey above will just be the rose garment color. Using the t-shirt colors is one of my favorite techniques. Not only does it create complexity to the design, but it also allows me to implement an additional color without adding an ink color which then adds cost.

Once we got this design produced, it became available to purchase on the Lancaster Archery website. Our in-house photographer took great photos of the shirt. You can currently purchase this shirt here: https://www.lancasterarchery.com/lancaster-archery-supply-womens-wild-one-tee.html

Lancaster Archery Supply Catalog Side-by-Sides

Below are a few improvements I made to the Lancaster Archery Supply's annual catalog. As mentioned previously, year one (2019-2020) was mostly spent on converting 9,000+ products to paragraph and character styles in InDesign. Year two (2020-2021) was the year I was able to implement more noticeable design changes and updates.

A newly designed introductory/contact page better organized information and made it more appealing to viewers.

Implementing colored swatches to condense the space of each product and create a cleaner look.

Reformatted some sections from 2 columns to 3 columns to optimize space due the the size of the product.

Organizing Broadheads: The simple concept of having all broadheads point the same direction, made quite the visual difference from year to year.

Lancaster Archery Supply

It has only been forever since I've posted any design or creative work. To get up to speed-in November of 2018 I landed a new job as a Senior Graphic Designer at Lancaster Archery Supply (LAS). My number one duty is to produce their annual Lancaster Archery Archer's Wishbook, a now 500+ page publication. I am the sole designer for this project, working directly with Purchasing and the President of the company. The bulk of my production begins around February 1st. I then send off the publication to the print vendor around the beginning of May, so the catalog hits homes by the first week of June. 

Since being at Lancaster Archery, I have produced two annual catalogs. In the first year I spent most of my time learning the previous processes, improving some of those processes that I could implement in a tight timeline and essentially make sure I got the catalog completed. Design upgrades were limited, but I made a solid list for the following year.

Some critical improvements I made in the first year was converting every single product (over 9,000) to paragraph and character styles in InDesign. I knew this would be a timely task to do while working through the general production of the catalog, but it was essential to clean up the book and get it where it needs to be organizationally. I worked over 150 hours between Feb-May outside of the normal 8-5 to get this hefty task completed, and it was a huge relief when all styles had been converted. 

The other critical improvement I implemented was the Dealer Price List. The price list for the 2019-2020 catalog consisted of over 9,200 rows and 7 columns that spanned throughout the 56 page insert. Unfortunately, this information was never properly placed in a chart within InDesign. The original process consisted of pasting this info, formatting the type, and then tabbing nearly every row to have the columns align properly. There was no way I was tabbing 9,200 rows manually, so I sought out a solution. Initially I just placed the spreadsheet information in a table and implemented table styles. However, when changes needed to be made I needed to carefully update specific rows or the entire table, which caused problems with my computer and speed. I then discovered WordsFlow, an InDesign plugin that links Excel files (and other programs), so that when the Excel spreadsheet file is updated, I can update the InDesign table in a click of a button (and of course a lot of computer updating time). The WordsFlow Pro trial allowed me to also keep the styling of the table following an update, so we now use that moving forward.

With those two (large) improvements now in place, I knew upcoming years would be much more manageable and less time consuming throughout the production months. This would open the door for some new designs and also time for me to continue to design billboards and digital and print ads for LAS.

Catalog year two (2020-2021) was as predicted much more efficiently produced. With a year under my belt, I was able to better gather print vendor estimates, prep and schedule for the upcoming year, meet with stakeholders and hit the ground running during the production months. I still had to work about 50 hours outside of my normal schedule, but felt extremely accomplished to have cut that down to 1/3 of the time. The company was very impressed with my work ethic and production, and I was rewarded by winning the very first Employee of the Quarter for Q1 of 2020. 

Catalog year three (2021-2022) production will be coming around the corner shortly, and I am already starting to prepare. My goals this year are to continue to improve processes, better prepare throughout the year to ultimately further cut down the time I have to spend outside my normal hours. One component of catalog that I do receive assistance on is the front cover design. The past two years I have been so limited on time that the Senior Creative Designer pulls together a front cover design. I hope in year three to have the time to design something, as the cover creative is what everyone sees first. The cover is the main creative spot, whereas all of the content is primarily production-based. To be able to design and produce 100% of the 500+ printed piece is certainly the ultimate goal.

At some point I'll show side by sides of the improvements from year to year more in detail. For now, below is the 2020-2021 catalog cover and spread composite.