It’s been a peachy week for one Louisiana Tech communication design major. A poster designed by Allison Smith, a senior from Bossier City, was chosen as the 2011 Louisiana Peach Festival Poster.  Her creation features her photography and Photoshop image manipulation skills. She created the realistic image of a hand-painted, vintage advertisement on a weathered brick wall. “I immediately knew I wanted to use my grandpa’s old fashioned bike, strap a basket on it and fill it with peaches,” Smith said. “But then I had to figure out how to incorporate the text. I did some researching of old peach labels and crates. Then I thought about some old wall advertisements I’d seen in Arkansas when I visited a friend. I’ve always loved the way they look and knew downtown Ruston was full of old brick walls. So, I drew up a design with that same old ad feel to it, found a wall and the rest is pretty much history.” Smith competed in the annual Peach Festival poster competition in one of her communication design classes. She said the best 10 in the class were taken to the Ruston Chamber of Commerce to determine a winner. “I’m so excited to design something that they really liked because I know how much this festival means to the Ruston community,” she said. “It’s kind of funny, though, because I work in a building that has some of the old Peach Festival posters hanging in a few of the offices and I would walk past them all the  time thinking, ‘Man, I wish my poster was the next one in line after all these designs,’ and now it is! “I’m truly flattered and honored to be a part of this amazing tradition. Ruston has been a good home to me over the past six years, and it’s nice to be able to, in a way, give something back.” The Louisiana Peach Festival is an annual, two-day event in Ruston June 24-25. Smith will sign copies of her poster available at the festival’s kick off and will receive a prize of $500.