by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places, Storytelling | Dec 9, 2014
The Use of Writing as a Talismanic Device in Architecture When GIRVIN had an office in NYC, off 26th and Broadway, I used to walk around, looking in on shops and restaurants. I found a little curiosity shop, a dealer in ancient antiquities and I spied some familiar...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Concepts, Designers, Storytelling | Dec 4, 2014
Design Mysticism When you go deep. As a designer, you might meditate on your work, what you’re doing. And your being in that doing. There might be a brand strategy, and the unfolding character of tactics and deployment. But making marks is a legacy that is thousands...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Dec 2, 2014
Brands that give, brands that don’t. I was studying this wall-bound piece of type, and contemplated the unassuming air of its drawing — nothing too formal — outlined then in-filled in a casual, if not happily energetic manner. In the emotionality of typography, the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling, Trends | Nov 20, 2014
The Hatching Stroke and the Ubiquity of Archetypal Design Thinking # I was walking the beach near my studios and found the above mark, cross-hacked into a log, the proverbial “pound” or number sign. And I wondered about it. “When this type of mark is made, what...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Retail | Nov 18, 2014
Brands that come from nowhere that surprise, alarm, and boom on the scene as spectacle. Or breeze in, quiet as the fog, a shadow of revelation. What have you seen that came on you as a surprise — out-of-the-blue, amazing, extraordinary, marvel-making and wonderment?...
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 | 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...
