Blair Academy
Blair Academy is a dynamic, co-educational boarding school located in Blairstown New Jersey where students in grades 9-12 pursue a superior college preparatory education.
We were connected with Blair Academy through a mutual colleague. After a warm introduction to Suzy, their Assistant Head of School for Strategic Communications, we got on a quick call to discuss needs and see if we got along.
Blair was in need of graphic design on a variety of projects, everything from large fundraising booklets to post card sized student hand outs. We went to tour the beautiful campus, met with Suzy and her team, and the Head of School (and his dog!) and soon found that we would be a great fit for what they needed.
HOW WE SPENT
OUR SUMMER
VACATION
We had an incredible summer at Stay Calm Industries! We launched new websites, promoted our favorite festival of the year, helped rebrand some of our favorite businesses, traveled all over for photoshoots, and took on our biggest design project yet. Despite the busy schedule, we still made time for our annual retreat, sponsored a race car, and even redesigned our own website.
Curious about how we can work together to create even better, more impactful work (but for you)? Let’s talk!
CHICAGO AND
LEICA
Evan kicked off summer in Chicago with Leica Akademie and Tamarkin Camera, brushing up on his food and hospitality photography skills. After a close brush with bed bugs (don’t worry, he’s safe) he had a great time working with Jim Sullivan to discover new ways to set up shoots, light drinks and food, and work with restaurant staff. We're constantly working to learn new skills and hone our abilities, whether it's in photography, design, or digital marketing.
Check out the selects below.
DOWNTOWN ALLENTOWN / BLUES
BREWS AND BBQ
After that it was full steam on launching the new branding and website for Downtown Allentown. We worked with their new Senior Vice President Brittney Ciardi and their board of directors (full disclosure, Evan sits on the DABA board) to refresh their identity and build them a new, beautiful, and (most importantly) useful website.
Our work with them didn’t stop there, up next was their biggest event of the year, Blues Brews & BBQ. The project kicked off with extensive strategy and planning sessions to make sure we had a solid, workable timeline that everyone could stick to.
Then we worked with them to deliver posters, print ads, beer mugs, t-shirts, banners, signs, handouts, paid ad campaigns, and day-of social media management. Despite the sweltering heat, we had a great time, and can’t wait to do it again next year!
MCCALL
COLLECTIVE
BREWING
After Blues, we kept the beer theme going and jumped into one of our favorite projects of the summer, McCall Collective Brewing. We’d been long time fans of them (and their beer) so when they asked us to help them refresh their visual identity, we jumped at the opportunity.
We started with an extensive discovery process. It’s one of our favorite parts of the job, and it’s important to know as much about a new client as possible. Their goal? Make it clear that they’re “More Than A Brewery.”
We started with photoshoots to create a visual library, then moved into updating their branding to better show their two distinct locations, and finally wrapped up by rebuilding their website.
Want to see more? Check out their case study.
AN INTERLUDE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
We've traveled all over the country for photoshoots this year, including Texas, Chicago, work from Kentucky got released, and we found ourselves trecking all over PA, including Lock Haven, Bucks County, Center Valley, and of course, our beloved Lehigh Valley. Check out some highlights below.
TEXAS - GOUCHO GRILLS
KENTUCKY - GIANT MOUSE x CASTLE AND KEY DISTILLERY
RURAL PA (VARIOUS) - ARTIO TRAFFIC PROTECTION
BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMING
STAY CALM INDUSTRIES
RACING 2024
SCI got into racing this year with the sponsorship of Evan's nephew's soapbox car. We had a blast designing the wrap for the car shell, t-shirts, stickers, and more. It may have been a building year, but we'll be back next year faster than ever.
VINEYARD DI
NORMA
There's something about Italian(-ish) restaurants we just can't stay away from. When Vineyard Di Norma saw we were working with McCalls, they reached out to have us help them out. We set up paid ad campaigns, produced a video shoot, a couple photoshoots, and had some t-shirts printed. We had a blast, they did too, and we're excited to see what they do next.
BLAIR ACADEMY
BULLETIN
We wrapped up our summer with our biggest design project ever. Blair Academy had been working with the same vendor for over 40 years to produce their alumni magazine and felt it was time for a change. We've spent the past year plus building a strong relationship with them, working on campaign case statements, course catalogs, socks, and more. So of course when they expressed interest in working with us, we got right into it.
We bought $500 worth of magazines for research, requested samples from other leading private schools, had hours of discussion with their communications team, and created a discovery presentation as the first step forward. After reviewing our design inspiration and direction with the team, we got to work putting together the layout templates.
Next step? Building the Winter/Spring issue. Here's to 40 more years with one design vendor.
And that's about half of it. We built more websites, launched more ad campaigns, did more social media posts, produced, shot, and edited more photoshoots, and designed more posters, t-shirts, handouts, postcards, and stickers than we can count (not really, we keep very careful track of all our projects).
If you made it all the way to the bottom, we'd love to work with you. You can use the contact form, or email us at hello@staycalmindustries.com.
Let's make something great.