by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Marketing 2.0, Storytelling, Trends | Mar 31, 2015
Brands That Survive on Stealth, Secrecy and Intrigue I was sitting on a jet with a talkative neighbor, a US Marshal, who coincidentally spoke to me on the theories of the layering of police, detection and intelligence — I thought, “how intriguing.” And then wondered...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Mar 17, 2015
THE THREADING OF IDEAS: THE WEFT, WARP, AND LOOM OF DESIGN As a designer, there can’t be a metaphor more powerful than weaving — the ultimate layering of storytelling — the fantastic pattern-maker and emblem of discovery. In our work, we persistently speak to the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Mar 12, 2015
Your Brand, too full of “stuff?” What could you take away? In the question of our search for full and robust brands, building them, finding the heart of them, it becomes a query — “when is too much?” Sometimes, it’s better to stay at the heart — the work that resides...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Mar 5, 2015
WHAT IS: “A NICE DAY?” Nice is one of those tough words, that’s so vague and so commonly used enough that it made me ponder — “what’s that mean?” In my own journey, I live in a place of perpetual curiosity about words and meaning. I listen to what people...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Feb 26, 2015
The Quest for Heart and Soul in Branding While it’s been suggested by some that “brands can’t have a soul,” it might be proffered that the inherent intimacy of branding to humanity imparts that they have a character that is imbued with a soul-like intentionality —...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Feb 24, 2015
The Deep Quest to Know a Brand Earlier in my life I was an inveterate spelunker, a cave explorer. In a manner, exploring caves is a richly metaphoric enterprise. You go deep into the heart of the earth, in winding, supremely dark and likely unknowable and risky...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Places | Feb 19, 2015
BRAND PRESENCE, PARTICIPATION AND SENSUAL DESIGN You’re here, right? That is: right now, you’re presenting, you’re present: you’re here? When you’re walking a space, trying to create a place — something unforgettable — you need to be in here. Present and focused,...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Cool People, Human brands, Storytelling | Feb 17, 2015
Brands, Dreams, Visions and Imagining It takes a special kind of person to run a brand. There will be fire found. In the near four decades of working experience, one comes to know what will work, and what will not, in the management of brand. One can have all the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Feb 5, 2015
I LIKE TO BE TOUCHED. And I like to touch. Just one way to sense is to touch. In having a conversation with one, I find that a touch is a way to link to someone in a different way — it’s a bond that will take the track of a discussion from one tack to another. Touch —...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Designers, Storytelling | Feb 3, 2015
Make something. Use your hands. What’s coming back to me is the realm of the personal — that which is made by a person, from that person, to me. As we’ve moved GIRVIN from downtown Seattle [they’re demolishing our building] to the bottom of West Queen Anne, we’ve all...
