by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Marketing 2.0 | Nov 13, 2014
Is Your Brand Truly Open? I went into a shop that I was interested in, excited about — selling mostly Asian antiquities and art. The response was about as welcoming as a bucket full of ice water. I was looking at a site, and I tried to place some things in a “cart,”...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Retail, Storytelling | Nov 11, 2014
The Script of The Multi-Stroke Brush Lettering Old-style Grocery Signage Script When I began my career [1975,] I was a lettering artist, a sign-writer. I wasn’t a designer, I was more to a kind of tradesman. I had no idea about what design was, per se — I knew about...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Nov 6, 2014
Can you fight? Perhaps you’ve had some exposure to boxing? You know what comes of it. The movement is a dance — it’s a whirling and spinning spar — a jumping and explosive hip hop to reach out in a ring, ‘round you. All of the training is about speed and stamina —...
by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Designers, Human brands | Nov 3, 2014
The Grace of Handwriting: Soul Drawings It is the physiological nature of our being that what the hand offers reaches back to the psychical current of the mind. In the journey of drawing, learning the way of The Seeing Hand, I was studying the treasury of master...
by Tim Girvin | Motion Pictures | Oct 31, 2014
Designing Identities for Scary Storytelling | Gruesome Design for Films I was talking to a young aficionado of typography and the lettering arts, as well as a connoisseur of scary movies, and we talked about logos for horror movies. And, to quote, “why is that...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Oct 28, 2014
There is a sign, and beneath that sign is another sign. Brands and palimpsest, the layers of content. When I was working in Paris, I marveled at the old shopfronts and the signing on signing — a new sign, on an old sign. You’ve seen them in your town. An old sign...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Oct 23, 2014
And the Emotions of The Skin The realm of touch and brand holism. There are people that talk about their 360º branding experience. I talk to them, walk a ways with them. And watch. When you think about brand experience, the query point will be what feeling does the...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Oct 21, 2014
The Signature of Your Presence You have style. Sure, there are your clothes. Your shoes. Your hair Your house, your apartment, your car — and the summary of your brand relationships. Then there is the style of you. Who are you — what do you stand for? What do you care...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Oct 9, 2014
Who are you, anyway? In several recent conversations with client companies, there has been a gesture to a kind of invention — like: “make me something I’m not.” “trying to look, speak, sound and feel like something” else. “I don’t like how we look.”...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Oct 7, 2014
In the game of games, resilience, strength, perception matter. So too in brands. To the allegory of sports, as a gamesman, I tend to contemplate allegory, conceptual alignments, metaphors. Think poetry. Flow. Focus. Speed. Strength. Perception. Flow: In the grace of...
