Old Try
In 2011, I started a company. At launch, I had ten print designs.
Over the years, Old Try grew to > 450 SKUs with wholesale relationships at dozens of companies, and generated over $2MM in revenue. We got mentioned in the New York Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Huffington Post, NPR, Boston Magazine, Mississippi Magazine, Charlotte Business Journal, Design Sponge, and Apartment Therapy.
We created collaboration and custom prints for Garden & Gun, the Southeastern Conference, Duke's, Charleston Waterkeeper, Criquet, Butler Pitch & Putt, Laurel Mercantile & Graduate Hotels.
I sold the company in June of 23.
In 2011, I started a company. At launch, I had ten print designs.
Over the years, Old Try grew to > 450 SKUs with wholesale relationships at dozens of companies, and generated over $2MM in revenue. We got mentioned in the New York Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Huffington Post, NPR, Boston Magazine, Mississippi Magazine, Charlotte Business Journal, Design Sponge, and Apartment Therapy.
We created collaboration and custom prints for Garden & Gun, the Southeastern Conference, Duke's, Charleston Waterkeeper, Criquet, Butler Pitch & Putt, Laurel Mercantile & Graduate Hotels.
I sold the company in June of 23.
Boston, Mass.
2011 - 2023
Inspiration
The logo comes the hammer for The Yellohammer State (my homestate of Alabama), and the scissors in honor of the textile history of North Carolina (where I met my wife).
Execution Notes
Over twelve years, we did a lots of brand collateral design. A few bits shown.
Main Product Line
We designed over 250 letterpress prints, printed from a large collection of orignial woodblock letters and hard-carved linoleum blocks.
Product Line Extensions
A few of our collaborations and extensions.
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Circle & Square
In 2021, a group of founders approached Villager. They were opening up the first microbrewery in my college town, and I wasted no time in jumping on that bandwagon.
In 2021, a group of founders approached Villager. They were opening up the first microbrewery in my college town, and I wasted no time in jumping on that bandwagon.
Oxford, Miss.
2021 - Present
Inspiration
The brewery sits beside the original train depot. I leaned into transit history - the Gill inspired rounded type from British subways (a nod to Oxford’s namesake), and the swallowtails from railroad signage. The blackletter from Geramic beer halls is a sharp contrast.
Merchandise
We’ve designed over 50 SKUs, and can’t keep them in stock.
A mascot
The university next, Ole Miss, doesn’t have a mascot. But they do have a law that beer isn’t allowed on campus. But if the beer is in a red cup, the fuzz will leave you be. I designed a new mascot for the town named Sparky, after the legendary Dean of Students. It has gone over like gangbusters.
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Whitt’s Barbecue
A fifty plus year old barbecue institution needed some design help. Having grown up on the stuff, and working there one summer in college, I was really excited to help out. And the design still looks pretty great with fifteen years of wear on it.
A fifty plus year old barbecue institution needed some design help. Having grown up on the stuff, and working there one summer in college, I was really excited to help out. And the design still looks pretty great with fifteen years of wear on it.
Decatur, Ala.
2007- Present
Services
Bottle labels
Box design
Out of home
Merchandise
Bottle labels
Box design
Out of home
Merchandise
Inspiration
Hatch show print, baby! One of the Whitt’s went to Vanderbilt, and we’d often go up to Nashville to visit (and to Opryland). I wanted to channel that vibe as it just felt right.
Execution Notes
To stay true to letterpress show print, each letter was hand set. Photography and styling by Abraham Rowe.
☝🏻 Love these people with all my ❤️
Mark Whitt, President
In all the almost 60 years that we’ve been in business, the best thing I ever did was to call Micah! From our now famous Lunch Box design to our gift cards to our poster designs, just to name a few, Micah gave our business a long term shot in the arm. We call him “The Design Genius”. I really think he is also a “BBQ Genius “
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The Alabama Biscuit Company
Jonathan Burch didn’t set out to change the biscuit game. He was just looking for healthy biscuits made from local sprouted grains for his growing family. When he couldn’t find any, he decided to put his landscape business on hold and try it out. Launched in 2013, Alabama Biscuit has become a Cahaba Heights favorite with multiple locations throughout Birmingham.
Jonathan Burch didn’t set out to change the biscuit game. He was just looking for healthy biscuits made from local sprouted grains for his growing family. When he couldn’t find any, he decided to put his landscape business on hold and try it out. Launched in 2013, Alabama Biscuit has become a Cahaba Heights favorite with multiple locations throughout Birmingham.
Birmingham, Ala.
2013 - Present
Inspiration
The flag of the State of Alabama shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side.
Code 1896, §3751; Code 1907, §2058; Code 1923, §2995; Code 1940, T. 55, §5.
Mug Shots
I had a hunch folks would want something to share in the social space. Something simple. Something that said “Yeah, I eat good things at cool places. And those things usually have caffeine riding in a side car.” So we made this mug. Low and behold, the mug shows up in ~65% of social posts about the Biscuit Company.
A final word from the client:
Watching Micah do design things is like watching Eric Liddell run in Chariots of Fire. A rare blend of humility and confidence leading to a finesse which can only be described as the real deal.
He’s done several projects for me and always under promises and over delivers.
He’s done several projects for me and always under promises and over delivers.
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In July 2020, the Mississippi flag finally came down.
The state put out a call for submissions. Two rules: couldn’t contain Confederate imagery (!), had to contain the phrase In God We Trust. There were 3,800 submissions. Most contained a magnolia flower.
I gave myself the assignment of creating something that could’ve been designed at statehood. What could a designer in 1817 have created based on the inspiration and best practices of the day?
I designed and submitted the Great River Flag based on the territorial seal of 1789.
I learned that the phrase In God We Trust is a racist dog whistle, so I wanted to illustrate that while the state might require it on the official flag, there’s nobody saying you have to feature it elsewhere. I wanted to give permission to decouple the design from a problematic message.
Rather than stop at the flag, I wanted show that replacing it is an opporunity to rethink the branding of the state overall. This opportunity doesn’t come around except once every century, so you might as well go for broke. Over the course of three sleepless weeks, I built an entire campaign around my design, which created a lot of excitement around the state.
Nothing was more important than getting the sports fans onboard from the start. I mocked up these helmets one morning and by that afternoon, thanks to sports talk radio, the campaign took off.
I first started designing twenty years ago, trying to give away free posters to Proud Larry’s in Oxford, Miss. I remembered this when I was sitting at the Larry’s bar back in January, mourning the loss of a close friend and mentor who helped encourage my craft.
When I saw the call for flag entries, then, I knew I had to jump in.
Had I ever designed a flag? Did I know how much work I’d put in? How many nights I’d lose sleep thinking about the ideas? Did I know how ugly the internet could get? No. But even if I did, I would do it again. In a heartbeat.
It is a rare occurrence for a designer where life experience (knowing Mississippi as an insider and an outsider) aligns with a life’s trade (a design portfolio based on typography and a decade-long art project based on connection to place), which aligns with the ability to perform a civic duty. For free. With little time. And 2,976,000 clients.
I’m proud of the Great River flag submission. I’m thankful for folks who helped bring the vision to life. For the council of the wise, for the hands of the busy, for the hearts of friends and strangers. I’m proud of the way we ran this thing. We kept it on the sunny side. We showed the potential and kept it hospitable. As is only fitting.
In a moment that feels like it has come full circle, I went from designing free Mississippi concert posters that nobody saw to designing free Mississippi flag designs that a lot of folks have.
I read someplace there were over 2,200 submissions that featured a magnolia. I’m not surprised to see a magnolia going on the ballot. I hope the voters of Mississippi vote it in with an overwhelming majority and then move on to focus on more pressing issues.
I have the distinction of being one of the few living state flag runner-ups. And maybe I’ll get a swing at the Massachusetts flag one day.
So. What will I tell my children about this experience? What advice can I pass along about this strange, trying, exciting, evolving season of life?
In a world of magnolias, don’t be afraid to offer a shield.
To Mississippi, with love,
Micah Whitson
Knowing what I do now about vexillology and best flag design practices, I would have submitted this piece. When you know better, do better, you know?
