Misc. Goods Co.:
My role & Responsibilities:
Branding:
- Naming
- Positioning
- Pillars
- Strategy
- Drivers
- Guide
Design:
- Identity
- Graphic
- Product
- Interior
Operations:
- Hiring
- Procurement
- Manufacturing
- E-Commerce
- Marketing
- Fulfillment
Management:
- Wholesale
- Creative
Overview:
In 2012, after a massively successful Kickstarter campaign, I started my own product design and e-commerce company. This business would become the place for me to cut my teeth on so many new disciplines like Industrial Design, Launch Strategy, E-Commerce, Sales, Financials, Team Leadership & Management, Story-Telling, Manufacturing, Operations, and all of the other various requirements of entrepreneurship.
Misc. Goods Co. has grown bit by bit for over 10 years with 30+ products designed, developed, produced and launched while also working with over 700 retail partners.
Est: 2012
We have many categories all of which are united by one thing, good design.
The Motivation:
From home to body, from travel to art, each new product took me to a new process: ceramics, print, wood, fragrance design, candle pouring, glass, canvas, concrete and leather. My North Star pillars are 1) We need to solve a problem 2) Quality is king 3) the design must be innovative 4) every person in the process needs to be treated rightly, from the people behind the computer to the producer on the line and most importantly, the customer.
Solid Colgone:
Our solid colognes were the first release within our fragrance line. I chose to create a solid cologne because the use was practical and classic while also giving me the opportunity to apply a lot of my design practice.
Discovery, design, growth and innovation are the motivations that get me out of bed each morning and this company provides endless opportunities for that. But, as I came to find out over the years, Misc. Goods would also provide education in many many more disciplines. It is a business after all and needs to be operated on more than just inspiration. It needs to be profitable, structured and managed.
Strategy:
In the beginning of the business I tended to produce an idea on my gut-feeling alone. It worked ... until it didn’t. After a few weak product launches I came to the realization that a fun idea wasn’t enough. There needed to be a market fit, an easy solution for production and a scaleable, affordable cost to manufacturing.
Hiring:
What’s (one of) the biggest risk(s) in running a business? A bad hire. What’s an absolutely essential way of scaling a business? A good hire. As in all things, I learned this through trial and error, eventually building the systems necessary to best assess and evaluate potential hires in a way that sets them up for success.
Manufacturing & Inventory:
I love innovation but the challenging side of disrupting the way things are made is that you have to find a way to make things in the new way. The benefit is of course that you learn a lot. What happens when you come up with an idea for a product, you know there’s a market for it, but you’ve never seen one made before? You have to figure out how to make it.
Fundraising:
Good ideas tend to draw a crowd, but at some point, you have to sell your product. It’s an active process that requires getting out into the world and telling your brand story in a way that others want to buy in. We learned to do this through multiple channels - e-commerce, wholesale trade shows and partnering with other brands on special projects.
Slim Wallets:
I designed our simple, easy-to-carry leather wallets because I personally didn’t like anything on the market. I wanted something stripped down to the basics while also feeling premium. I accomplished this through taking out the unnecessary pockets, flaps and seams found.
It would be remiss of me to not talk about the product that started it all - our re-designed deck of playing cards. My design career started in graphic design and this product became the bridge to and reason for me falling in love with product design. Each and every piece of this 52-card deck has been re-imagined and re-drawn. That includes every ace, court card, letter, symbol and of course the packaging. To this day, our playing cards are still one of our best sellers.
The first card I drew was the Jack of Spades, but the King of Diamonds remains my favorite.
Photography:
There’s no better way to communicate creativity and quality than partnering with the right photographers and we’re so thankful for the work of Clay Cook and Josiah Bice along with others.
You spend 10 days collecting all your materials and secondary assets and then you save money by squeezing every opportunity out of one full-day of shoot like I did here w/ homie Clay Cook.
Innovation:
The Ceramic Flask was the first product that took me fully into new territory. I developed it by first designing the 2D specs on .Ai and then working with a 3D printer to make a model for the ceramicist to make production molds.
Ceramic Flask:
Made from a slip cast, our flasks can keep the pure integrity of your favorite spirit while looking good on the bar top.
Timeless materials are a key facet of Misc. Goods Co. products. Developing holders for our incense gave us the opportunity to learn how to make things from concrete. We wanted to make a functional piece that reflected the centuries through which concrete has served as a building material and brought a sense of intentionality and ritual to any space - home, office, patio etc.
Incense & Holders:
For centuries, people have burned incense for its smell as well as for purposes of ritual. This connection to the past is what brought us to design our concrete incense holder and unique smells.
The Rest:
As my passion for product design grew ... our product offerings grew too.
Vanity Mirror
2015
Soy Candle
2020
Leather Case
2014
Eau De Cologne
2019
Roll-On Cologne
2019
Long Wallet
2019
Natural Deodorant
2018
Leather Belt
2020
Bar Soap
2017
Canvas Dopp Kit
2018
Cone Incense
2018
PPL Brass Coin
2020
Uncreate Decanter
2018
Merch
2020
Uncut Sheet
2017
Rope Poster
2018
Wooden Hard Case
2018
Coil Chiller
2018
Photography:
The right photographs can grab your customer’s imagination and take them to a place they feel they belong. With each new release, we got better at communicating who our customer is and where these products live.
Web Design:
I worked with long time friend and developer Doug Vander Meulen to build the Misc. Goods website. The process of designing an effective web store is as challenging as any other part of the business. It requires a ton of objective testing and changing. Finding new ways to communicate your brand story while guiding the customer through to check out. The Misc. Goods website has gone through many iterations over the years and will continue to do so with a focus on service, functionality and a clear, focused design perspective.
The Origin Story:
If you want to better understand the play-by-play history of Misc. Goods then click the link below. Here’s an excerpt.
"I didn’t intend to start a product company. I left my salary job as an in-house graphic designer to pursue the world of free-lance, jobs were coming in and I felt ready. But, as it’s known to go for people who choose this path, the carpet was ever beneath me waiting to be tugged. One day I showed up to my office and there was no work to do. And with a wife and two kids at home, I couldn’t be idle — my conscience just wouldn’t let me. So, as a discipline for the mind and an opportunity to sharpen my skills, I began designing a single playing card, the jack of spades ..."
Many things to many
people at many
different times
:)