ABOUT | Services

Stan Cain is a career art director.

He holds a BFA from Syracuse University's Advertising Design program which is known for its excellence in creative advertising concept.

He has had a few tastes of TV broadcasting with a Public Service Announcement for the Syracuse Area Landmark Theater; a TV Cameraman and Technical Director role with a Comcast Cable Local Access Channel 34 TV show in Long Branch; and some light industrial video production experience with Lanmark Group.

In 1982 he purchased and renovated his first of 5 residential and 2 commercial units, and was a part-time landlord for over 20 years. He operated his freelance design firm, PrintDesign, from the office he renovated at 220 Broadway, in downtown Long Branch, for 15 years.

Stan lives with Avis, his spouse of over 30 years, two blocks from the ocean in Long Branch, New Jersey, where they have many creative adventures.

In 2013 Stan waged a battle of ground hog vs vegetable garden. The result an 8' vertical garden. See the Home & Garden section.

In 2012 his freelance client, PCG, brought him on full-time. PCG produced a 480 page text book on digital marketing… "I found an experienced art director with years of agency experience, who was fluent in traditional print collateral, direct mail, publications, large format exhibit, as well as front end web design. He knows creative concept and is perfect for any of my graphic design needs.The trade-off is he is not a coder – so someone from our web development team assists for html/css coding." – that sums up PCG quite nicely – how Stan fleshes out concepts for diverse vehicles in print, on the web, in advertising and marketing, for live events, trade shows, and educational training conferences.

August and September of 2010 were focused on the new exhibit in the Becker Children's Wing at the Monmouth Museum. Changing Climate : Changing Weather. A very dedicated team of talented creatives proved they really know how to pinch a penny, utilized found objects and recycled building materials.

2009 was the year of the renovation, doubling the size of our house and transforming the garage to a very handsome studio space.

In 2008, Stan began marketing a time and attendance software for Datamatics Management Services, Inc. in Fords, NJ.  

2008 included an ambitious design/build project for the Monmouth Museum, BLAST OFF! A Space Journey. Co-curators/designers Stan Cain, Avis Anderson and Jim Fitzmaurice, designed, fabricated and installed this 6,000 sq ft, 2 level, children's museum exhibit. The Becker Children's Wing offers changing exhibits geared to school curriculum and targeted to school aged children 7-12 years old. The subjects and installations are changed every 3 years. Hands-on, experiential, learning-though-doing is the game – so visitors get to experience a launch in Mission Control, Prep For Space Travel, climb through the Shuttle and the International Space Station. The exhibit centerpiece is an air-inflated Planetarium which holds 30 students. From the Lunar Lander children slide down to the lower level and land on the rubber surface of the Moon. A crater maze led to six activity stations.

In 2007 Stan earned a CIW (Certified Internet Webmaster) – a 200 hour certificate program offered through Brookdale Community College. While on campus he took a Flash animation and an AutoCAD class.

From 2000 to 2006 Stan worked for the prestigious Exibitgroup/Giltspur, the nation's largest tradeshow and museum design/build firm. In addition to his role as Graphics Manager in their Soho location he also provided sales and marketing support with ambitious request for proposal presentation packages for projects ranging up to 4 million dollars. His designs extend a client's brand and personality to the 3-D space and help support the immersive, experiential environments that Exhibitgroup creates for tradeshows, permanent installations and museum exhibits. As Graphics Manager he would coordinate concept through production, utilizing both nationwide resources of Exhibitgroup and local vendors in New York, Philadelphia and NJ. He would liaison with interpretive design firms, architectural firms, directly with clients and through their advertising agencies.

Stan is a founding member of the Twilight Concert Committee. Every winter for 25 years the Twilight Concerts hosted a charity concert for the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children. To date they have raised over $830,000 - with 100% of the monies they raise going directly to the charity.

Stan tested his entrepreneurial mettle with PrintDesign, a freelance graphic design firm, where he wore all the hats from creative to production, from account executive to bookkeeper. He renovated a downtown Broadway, Long Branch office building. His clients were located in eastern Monmouth County and projects were print heavy including: counter-top wayfinding easels and die-cut holiday mailings for Red Bank's RiverCenter; identity, trade show exhibit, collateral and annual reports for NJ Healthcare Facilities Financing Authority; exhibit, catalog and website for Hartford Family Foundation; and CD packaging for DA Music and Paramax. 

He co-curated three 2,400 sq ft exhibitions at the Monmouth Museum (A&P in American Life; NJ Pinelands: Water in the Balance; and The Estuary: Life in the Mix). Stan attests that these have been his favorite all encompassing collaborative projects, combining interpretation, research, design, message hierarchy, wayfinding, design, fabrication and installation.

PrintDesign freelance work led to a full-time Creative Director role at Lanmark Group. It was a very responsible position and had a direct reporting staff of 10. He developed creative strategies, established copy platform, conceived and launched ad campaigns, produced direct mail and diverse sales collateral. He oversaw art and copy departments, bringing his strong concept and creative eye to Lanmark's B2B and Business to Professional marketing for the dental industry. His role required client contact, travel, photo shoots and press checks - all budget and deadline intensive. Stan's accomplishments included dual language packaging for Bausch & Lomb's Interplak toothbrush; brand, ID and packaging for Holmes Air; and a corporate identity revamp for Ceramco. Other clients included: Hoechst Celanese, Jelenko, Jeneric Pentron, Pelton & Crane, Siemens and several pharmaceutical companies.

In 1987 he took the digital step to a Macintosh, and although cross-platform, has been on a MAC ever since.

In the late 1980s he played a significant role in a grass roots effort to save 13 acres of wetlands from development. With State of NJ Green Acres Program funding, the Jackson Woods site has now been set aside as an open space, passive recreation park. Stan went on to chair the City of Long Branch Environmental Commission.  

Early on in his career Stan climbed the ranks to head the Art Department in the Audiovisual Branch of the Hexagon at Fort Monmouth. As head of a civilian staff of 9, he held a high level Department of Defense security clearance doing military briefings for CECOM, and fulfilling the graphic and print needs of the entire Fort Monmouth community. He was also personally responsible for the reorganization and refitting of a 40 year old art department. His other accomplishments there included a nine projector multi-image slide show, exterior graphics on the Child Care Center and a series of updatable and portable displays.

The assignment download - from understanding your brand, your target audiences, your competition, your goals, your measurement tools, as well your budget and timing.

Develop the brief - a creative strategy helps build consensus among stakeholders. And keeps my development costs down.

Design development - provide art direction for any campaign...  photography or illustration, a printed vehicle, a slide deck, sales support, or a semi-permanent exhibit.

Vendor coordination - sourcing talent, quoting materials and production methods, color matching, quality control – communicating, and controlling mutual expectation.

Production - press proofing thru delivery and installation.

Post mortem - Every project has a post cleanup - even if that's only about archiving production files, and protecting that investment. A conversation on how a project was ultimately  received and what the clients experience was like – is just good business.