While four-year private colleges nationwide lost roughly half their enrollment between 2010 and 2022, Paul Smith’s College needed an alumni magazine that did more than report institutional news. It needed to make the case, visually and editorially, for why hands-on education at a 14,000-acre campus in the Adirondack Park matters more than ever, especially as families weigh the value of college against rising costs and an uncertain job market shaped by AI.
The cover story, “Still Standing. Still Growing.,” leads with the headline news: a 30 percent increase in new student enrollment, a milestone that runs directly against the national trend. We built the spread around oversized, sculptural typography set against a forest canopy, with the headline climbing through the trees alongside a student in motion. The feature that follows moves through portraits of students working in the field, on the water, and in the kitchen, with bold pull quotes and statistics that let the college’s own voice carry the argument.
The issue closes with “Handle With Care,” a feature on the Adirondack Park itself. For the opener, we let the title drift quietly across a ridgeline at dawn, giving the landscape the space it has earned. The pairing of these two stories, the college and the Park, reflects a relationship that has defined Paul Smith’s since its founding in 1946.
