THE STUDIO
Metric is led by Ed Nacional, who spent eight years as Creative Director for Commerce at The New York Times (2017-2025), building and scaling the creative program for The New York Times Store.
His role spanned the complete product lifecycle: concept, design, manufacturing, photography, ecommerce, and campaign strategy — including deep relationships with domestic makers and factories across apparel, accessories, and objects, from small independent producers to larger scale manufacturers.
The studio brings that depth to brands seeking the same standards without building an in-house team. Studio-level craft with the capacity to scale.
MORE ⌵
The name Metric speaks to the nature of this work: physical, measurable, precise. Merchandise exists in the tangible world, where specifications matter—fabric weight, fit dimensions, exact color values, production timelines. But precision extends beyond technical specs. It's about conceptual accuracy too: identifying the right products for your brand, finding ideas that truly connect.
After eight years specializing exclusively in merchandise design and production—most recently as Creative Director for Commerce at The New York Times—Metric was founded to bring that level of rigor and full-spectrum expertise to brands who want the same standards but don't have an in-house team to deliver them.
What Eight Years of Specialization Gives You
When you've designed hundreds of merchandise collections and managed every aspect of a commercial retail program, you start seeing patterns other designers don't. The conceptual hooks that make a product feel inevitable for a brand. The cultural references that resonate with specific audiences. The gaps between what a brand says about itself and what it could be making.
That depth of focus means the studio moves faster, sees problems before they become expensive, and has relationships with the makers, printers, and manufacturers who can actually execute at the level your vision demands. The approach considers three dimensions—not just what looks good on screen, but what feels right in someone's hands, what's actually feasible at your budget, what will photograph well, and what will survive real-world use.
The studio brings expertise in garment construction, printing methods, packaging logistics, and which factories can execute your vision versus which ones will water it down. With hundreds of product shoots art directed and ecommerce experiences designed, Metric works with production realities and commercial viability baked in from the start, which means fewer revisions, shorter timelines, and solutions that work the first time. This isn't a side offering—it's the entire practice.