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 | Concepts, Designers, Scent | Mar 3, 2015
The Legacy of Fragrance Design and Perfume, Taste Innovation and Spice Strategy In a workshop in Oregon, we studied the layering of taste and scent in new product development innovation summits. What came clear in the study group was a kind of synaesthesia of...
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 | Concepts, Human brands, Places, Storytelling | Feb 12, 2015
The Deep Sprint: If you’re going someplace, how are you paying attention? Brand journeys and explorations. I can remember a time — especially when my children were younger — that traveling was a cumbersome burden. Now, my children are onto their own lives, and...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Cool People, Designers, Storytelling | Feb 10, 2015
Can you do that style? Earlier in my career [1976,] as a advertising studio illustrator, comp[rehensive] packaging artist, headline drafter [for rough ad layouts] and an occasional calligrapher, I got that line, as a request. “Can you do that style?” “Sure I can.” It...
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...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts | Jan 29, 2015
THE JOURNEY OF DISCOVERING IS NEVER A STRAIGHT LINE Brand. Place. Team. Community. Who is it, where is it, what is it, who are we talking to? When there is a new inquiry — a brand to be evolved and rebooted in some manner — I make it a point to get out there, wander...
