The Lufkin Living the Life magazine is the staple publication of Lufkin Printing Company. It is an annual partnership with the company and the City of Lufkin, and it is used throughout the year as a guide for visitors to get the most out of their stay in Lufkin, TX.

For the 2024 publication, I was asked to create a few ads for some companies. These included Hyundai of Lufkin, Lufkin Coca-Cola, and more. Most notably, for Hyundai of Lufkin I put my photoshop skills to the test by imposing three separate images of Hyundai’s newest vehicles into one, East Texas looking, landscape. The project had me respecting car advertising designers more - to say the least.

Then, the 2025 issue, I was given the honor to be the lead designer of the magazine. The owner of Lufkin Printing Company, Kevin Smithhart, gave me almost complete creative control with this project. He requested certain design elements to remain the same from the previous year. These include the style and layout of the cover and introduction spread, the font choices, and the inclusion of photos spread across two pages throughout the magazine.

So, from August 2024 until its release in 2025, I filled my free time at work with designing layouts and occasionally writing articles for the magazine. I made my focus to give the whole book a cohesive feel, while also exploring exciting new layouts to give the book a fresh new life.

To get going on the project, I started by taking the time to explore the many older issues of the book. The company had been printing these magazines since 2011, and the design style throughout that time had changed a lot. So, I went through each magazine, making note of what I liked and didn’t like. This gave me the idea to color code the sections.

The colors themselves were pulled from the cover photo for each section. To decide the pallete, I created an object mosaic of each photo in Illustrator and tested different combinations until I was happy with the end result.

Throughout the project, I worked closely with Mr. Smithhart, a small team at Visit Lufkin, and many different customers sending in their own ads and articles. We ended up with a magazine that sparked joy to everyone involved and was circulated throughout the Lufkin and Angelina County area to promote the nearby events, must-stop spots, and more!

Check out my work on the 2025 Lufkin Living the Life magazine throughout this collection.