PROJECT
Turning a Chicago pop-up into a nationally covered breakfast brand through branding, strategy and creative direction, which grew press coverage, social following, and subscriber count.
ROLE
Creative Director
Co-founder
COMPANY
Morning Jay's
STAKEHOLDER(s)
Co-Founders
SCOPE
-
Brand strategy and identity
-
Logo and icon design
-
Packaging design
-
Website UI/UX and design
-
Photography and video creative direction and production
-
Social media management across Instagram, TikTok, and Substack
Building the Identity
The brand needed to feel warm and a little playful without losing the polish required to compete in CPG. We weren't a corporate breakfast brand. We were scratch-made, flavor-forward, community-rooted.
The visual identity had to say all of that without explaining itself.
No brick-and-mortar. No safety net.
The Beginning
Morning Jay's started with a name, a co-founder, and a strong point of view about what breakfast could be. The concept was part nomadic pop-up, part frozen CPG brand: scratch-made baked goods, housemade beverages, and grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches served wherever the audience was.
No brick-and-mortar. No safety net.
The Beginning
Morning Jay's started with a name, a co-founder, and a strong point of view about what breakfast could be. The concept was part nomadic pop-up, part frozen CPG brand: scratch-made baked goods, housemade beverages, and grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches served wherever the audience was.
The Beginning
Morning Jay's started with a name, a co-founder, and a strong point of view about what breakfast could be. The concept was part nomadic pop-up, part frozen CPG brand: scratch-made baked goods, housemade beverages, and grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches served wherever the audience was.
No brick-and-mortar.
No safety net.
As co-founder, I was the creative lead from day one.
That meant building a brand that didn't exist yet, one that could hold together across a pop-up table, a freezer shelf, a social feed, and a press feature.
Everything had to feel cohesive, and
I was the one making sure it did.
The name gave us the starting point.
Named after my co-founder Jay, I built the identity around a Jaybird: a nod to "the early bird gets the worm" and a mascot that felt native to the brand's personality.
The bird became the anchor of the logo, simple enough to adapt for seasonal events or collabs without ever losing its core recognizability.
From there, I developed the full visual system: color palette, typography, illustration-style iconography, and a set of brand icons built to tell the food story across every menu category.
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The goal was a system that felt cohesive whether it showed up on a paper bag, a sandwich wrapper, a website, or a TikTok.
I designed all of it.
I designed and built the full website, handling both the UI/UX structure and visual design. The goal was to make the brand feel as alive on screen as it did in person: easy to navigate, true to the personality we'd built, and clear about what Morning Jay's was and why you'd want to find us.
Website Design
Photo Art Direction
With a brand this tactile, the photography had to do real work. Baked goods, warm drinks, handheld breakfast sandwiches: these are products that live and die on appetite appeal. I built and directed all of the brand shoots from the ground up, developing the shot list, setting the visual direction, and handling post.
The approach leaned into close crops, natural light, and the kind of honest food beauty that feels craveable without feeling staged. We weren't chasing a trend. We were building a library that could carry the website, the social feed, and the CPG packaging all at once and still feel consistent across all three.
Event Poster Design
Every Morning Jay's pop-up gets its own poster. Rather than a templated system, each event is treated as its own creative moment: a distinct typographic and photo-based composition built around the vibe, menu, and occasion. I lead the full art direction and design execution on every piece, from concept through final asset.
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The posters have consistently been among the brand's highest-performing organic content, with individual event posts regularly pulling 90 to 150+ shares and 40 to 70 saves. Those save numbers in particular signal something worth noting: people aren't just sharing these to spread the word, they're bookmarking them as design. For a brand that lives on community and word of mouth, that kind of engagement is the point.
In the Press
The combination of a strong visual brand and consistent social presence opened doors quickly. Morning Jay's earned features in the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Midwest Living, bringing the brand to audiences well beyond our immediate community. The brand has also garnered a few accolades including:
-
Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago for "Best Pop-Up" - Runner Up
-
TimeOut Chicago ‘Best of the City 2025’
Brand Partnerships
On the partnerships side, the brand's momentum on social attracted collaborations with brands that aligned naturally with our audience and aesthetic: Recess Beverages, Peanut Butter Co., VistaPrint, and Yasso. Each partnership was an extension of the brand story rather than a departure from it, keeping the content feeling native even when it was paid.
Social and Community
Social was one of the primary ways we told the brand story and built community from launch. I managed all organic content across Instagram, TikTok, and Substack, with short-form video as the core growth engine.
The content strategy leaned into the personality of the brand: behind-the-scenes moments from pop-ups, product storytelling, and the kind of authentic, unpolished footage that tends to travel further than anything overproduced. The brand voice was warm and specific, and that came through in every post.
That approach paid off faster than we expected.
Within the first two months, we grew to 15,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Several videos went viral, with views climbing to over 3.5 million collectively.
The Substack grew to 2,000+ subscribers and became a direct line to our most engaged audience.
Role: Creative Director & Co-founder
Scope:
-
Brand strategy and identity
-
Logo and icon design
-
Packaging design
-
Website UI/UX and design
-
Photography and video creative direction and production
-
Social media management across Instagram, TikTok, and Substack
Brand: Morning Jay's, Chicagoland
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Let’s Work Together
Available for creative direction, brand work, and content projects.
Chicago and beyond
© 2026 Nate Crawford Creative. All Rights Reserved.
Morning Jay’s
Brand Build
I co-founded Morning Jay's from the ground up and led every piece of the creative: identity, packaging, photography, website, and content.
What started as a pop-up concept became a nationally recognized brand in under two years.
The Beginning
Morning Jay's started with a name, a co-founder, and a strong point of view about what breakfast could be. The concept was part nomadic pop-up, part frozen CPG brand: scratch-made baked goods, housemade beverages, and grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches served wherever the audience was.
No brick-and-mortar. No safety net.
As co-founder, I was the creative lead from day one. That meant building a brand that didn't exist yet, one that could hold together across a pop-up table, a freezer shelf, a social feed, and a press feature.
Everything had to feel cohesive, and
I was the one making sure it did.
From there, I developed the full visual system: color palette, typography, illustration-style iconography, and a set of brand icons built to tell the food story across every menu category.
The bird became the anchor of the logo, simple enough to adapt for seasonal events or collabs without ever losing its core recognizability.
The name gave us the starting point.
Named after my co-founder Jay, I built the identity around a Jaybird: a nod to "the early bird gets the worm" and a mascot that felt native to the brand's personality.
The goal was a system that felt cohesive whether it showed up on a paper bag, a sandwich wrapper, a website, or a TikTok. I designed all of it.
Building the Identity
The brand needed to feel warm and a little playful without losing the polish required to compete in CPG. We weren't a corporate breakfast brand. We were scratch-made, flavor-forward, community-rooted. The visual identity had to say all of that without explaining itself.
Background
I co-founded Morning Jay's from the ground up and led every piece of the creative: identity, packaging, photography, website, and content.
What started as a pop-up concept became a nationally recognized brand in under two years.
I designed and built the full website, handling both the UI/UX structure and visual design. The goal was to make the brand feel as alive on screen as it did in person: easy to navigate, true to the personality we'd built, and clear about what Morning Jay's was and why you'd want to find us.
Website Design
With a brand this tactile, the photography had to do real work. Baked goods, warm drinks, handheld breakfast sandwiches: these are products that live and die on appetite appeal. I built and directed all of the brand shoots from the ground up, developing the shot list, setting the visual direction, and handling post.
Photo Art Direction
Every Morning Jay's pop-up gets its own poster. Rather than a templated system, each event is treated as its own creative moment: a distinct typographic and photo-based composition built around the vibe, menu, and occasion. I lead the full art direction and design execution on every piece, from concept through final asset.
Event Poster Design
Social was one of the primary ways we told the brand story and built community from launch. I managed all organic content across Instagram, TikTok, and Substack, with short-form video as the core growth engine.
The content strategy leaned into the personality of the brand: behind-the-scenes moments from pop-ups, product storytelling, and the kind of authentic, unpolished footage that tends to travel further than anything overproduced. The brand voice was warm and specific, and that came through in every post.
That approach paid off faster than we expected.
Within the first two months, we grew to 15,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Several videos went viral, with views climbing to over 3.5 million collectively.
The Substack grew to 2,000+ subscribers and became a direct line to our most engaged audience.
Social and Community
In the Press
The combination of a strong visual brand and consistent social presence opened doors quickly. Morning Jay's earned features in the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Midwest Living, bringing the brand to audiences well beyond our immediate community.
The brand has also garnered a few accolades including:
Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago for
"Best Pop-Up" - Runner Up
TimeOut Chicago ‘Best of the City 2025’
On the partnerships side, the brand's momentum on social attracted collaborations with brands that aligned naturally with our audience and aesthetic: Recess Beverages, Peanut Butter Co., VistaPrint, and Yasso. Each partnership was an extension of the brand story rather than a departure from it, keeping the content feeling native even when it was paid.
Brand Partnerships
Role: Creative Director & Co-founder
Scope:
-
Brand strategy and identity
-
Logo and icon design
-
Packaging design
-
Website UI/UX and design
-
Photography and video creative direction and production
-
Social media management across Instagram, TikTok, and Substack
Brand: Morning Jay's, Chicagoland
