The 2010 UW Football Poster received national recognition as the design was ranked #8 out of the top 50 Division I Football Team Poster designs on the Bleacher Report Sports website. Check out the Blog page posting that skims through the design process for this piece and you can also view the link to see some of the other designs we were up against. Any recognition of what an artist does is an honor so naturally, I’m quite proud.

Just sent the final files to the printer for the UW Track & Field/Cross Country Poster. This one was a challenge but came together quite nicely. Check it out on the print graphics page. Should be number 11.

Any gardeners out there looking for top notch compost? Well we recently launched a website built in partnership with Sencha Creative that sells that exact product. What does this have to do with sports you say? Well, not every project we do is sports related but this compost is composed in part by the “left overs” if you will of champion sled dogs in Alaska. That’s what compost is people, seriously! Anyway, I personally had the opportunity to work with these incredible 4 legged athletes on a glacier one summer in Alaska and it goes to show how environmentally conscious this company is about not letting anything go to waste. Check out number 11 on the web design page and view the website so you can find out for yourself.

Completed 3 end of the summer display projects for UW Athletics to kick off the upcoming football season. A billboard located on I-80 east of Cheyenne, WY, a billboard located on I-25 south of Cheyenne, WY and a 45 foot banner hanging on Grand Avenue in Laramie, WY. Look for these pieces when you’re headed to Laramie to catch some football action this fall! Check them out on the display graphics page. Numbers 14, 15 and 16.

Hey there, thanks for checking out the first official blog post and you’re in luck because it’s not just an update but you will also get to see some of the steps we go through when working on certain projects. As you may or may not know one of the posters we designed this year for the University of Wyoming’s Athletics Football Program was recognized by Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com) featured columnist Tom Perry as one of College Football’s Top 50 Team Schedule Posters. The Bleacher Report is a sports network driven entirely by fans and writers who publish over 500 new articles every day, many of which are syndicated to CBSSports.com, the L.A. Times, NHL.com, and other leading media outlets. So our poster was ranked #8 out of 50 to be exact but who’s keeping track right?

So a little history, Mr. Perry came up with the idea to contact the media relations offices of all 120 D-I Football Subdivision teams and ask for their 2010 poster. Out of those that had posters and/or responded, Mr. Perry, with the assistance of an art director, individually graded each poster with the following criteria: Clarity, Schedule, Photo Quality, Uniqueness/Creativity, Eye Appeal and “Coolness” Factor. They were rated on a scale of 1-10 then broken down with an overall category score, individual ballot score and then finally best overall score, which was maxed out at 120. I’m proud to say that Wyoming’s Football Poster had an overall score of 101, good enough for 8th so I’d like to take a few moments to thank Tom Perry and the Bleacher Report for taking the time to recognize some of the things that these schools do to promote their programs, promote school spirit and of course recognition of the behind the scenes people (graphic artists!) who make the visions of these athletics media relations departments a reality.

I give you the Cliff’s Notes version of the 2010 Wyoming Football Poster design (it would be about 20 pages if we went step by step) Enjoy!

The original Photo was actually taken inside the practice stadium with some lights set up for contrast:

The first step was to isolate the players from the background. Using the pen tool in Photoshop, and a lot of patience, the entire team was traced around and then copied and pasted as a separate layer from the original. There are a number of ways to do this sort of thing using layer masks, and channels to the magic wand tool but generally, the pen tool yields the best but most time consuming results for detailed images. Fast forward and voila the team has been isolated from the background.

Time to start getting creative. To get the image to pop we need contrast.

Through a combination of layers, color and contrast balancing and effects, we achieved the desired look for the athletes. Subtle difference but strong.

Fast forward, fast forward, fast forward…with the new suites for War Memorial Stadium still under construction at the time, we had to improvise and use an architect’s rendering for the background stadium shot. Notice the incorrect angle as well. Transform function, scale, skew, repeat…until it looks right. Before:

Fast forward, fast forward, fast forward…effects, layering, feathering edges, desaturation of images, blending of foreground and background images, and addition of artificial stadium lights for effect plus poster content, headers, logos, etc. in accordance with branding scheme and voila…

I hope this was a fun and interesting look at some of what Court Vision Creative does on a regular basis. Feel free to add comments or contact us if there is anything in particular that can be done for you!

Just wrapped up the schedule card design for the UW Volleyball and UW Women’s Soccer teams. Presented a few challenges as it was a combination of both schedules on a smaller 2 fold card. In keeping with the look for this years posters and other marketing materials, the main image involved a lot of layering and effects to get that image popping effect to the team photos when laid over a dark background for that dramatic effect. Check out image 6 on the Print Graphics page.

Do you love your logo and don’t want anything about it changed but still trying to figure out a way to give yourself a re-energized presence in your community? That’s exactly what All Terrain Sports of Laramie, WY was looking to do when they came to Snowy Range Graphics to have the image for their awning over their store redone. My colleague and fellow designer from Snowy Range, Mike Gray, put together the layout in Photoshop and had us redraw the graphic in vector format. Check out image 13 on the Display Graphics to see the finished result of collaboration at its finest. Contact us if you want to know the limitless potential for vectorizing your logo.

Not all clients are of a sports related background but the connection and the principles of our vision can be used through any project. Supper Solutions Inc, is a unique concept in dining for busy people on the go where you create a variety of dishes with fresh pre-portioned ingredients you pick then prepare on your own. The CEO of Supper Solutions came to us wanting some fresh designs on posters, flyers and other marketing materials as they prepared to roll out their new Fit Solutions line geared towards the calorie conscious customer. We got er done and they rolled that out to their 20 franchise locations around the country, now we are working on a similar branding package for their partner company, Social Suppers by Supper Solutions.

On-The-Line Specialty Camps is a football kicking camp for all levels developed by former University of Wyoming standout athlete, Luke Donovan. This website has been a work in progress for a few years now where we originally just took over updates and maintenance. As they were a start up company, we worked with On-The-Line to take gradual steps in improving and changing the websites look and functionality. Now they hold summer kicking camps in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Utah. We recently helped them sort, collect and update hundreds of coach contact information in addition to yearly updates for this years camps. Next step is a complete redesign to kick off the 2011 summer camps. Stay tuned.

The University of Wyoming Athletics Department remains one of our main clients as we work together to create new, fresh ways to give their various programs and Division I sports a new look every year. First poster of the year is always football. Coach Christensen looks to expand on a great New Mexico Bowl victory last Bowl season. This season they are Cowboy Tough and out to prove it against the best. Had to put that same edge into the poster.