by Tim Girvin | Artists, Cool People | Jan 16, 2025
Everyone has a powerful connection to their mothers. My mother, Lila Lee Shaw Girvin died this past week. And it called into contemplation all of the things that one thinks about in death—of anyone near. You’re thinking, “they were here, now they’re gone....
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Cool People | Oct 11, 2024
I was listening to a podcast by David Duchovny the proverbial Fox Mulder of the X-files–on failure. As he notes in his overview—a summary of his podcast— “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better,” Duchovny recites to WPR’s host...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Cool People, Storytelling | Jul 12, 2024
A contemplation on gratefulness Notes on the death of my father, George W. Girvin, 7.05.2024 “Why do you have skulls around you, everywhere?, I mean, you’re always wearing skull scarves, rings, all that.” Someone asked me this question. I have a long...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Cool People, Luxury, Retail, Storytelling | Jun 27, 2024
Brands That Live in the Shadow, But Are Full of Light Do you have a brand relationship that is, to your thinking, your personal secret— something special, marvelous, your happily loved and savored place? Is there ever a brand that lives on the quiet side, unknown,...
by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Motion Pictures, Storytelling | May 6, 2024
In my history, I’ve often thought, looking at, literally, any logo—“that could be better.” Or, “why such an off-the-shelf solution—there’s nothing distinct, ownable or registrable with this asset?” Of course, all of us, as brand strategists, designers and logo...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Cool People, Human brands, Storytelling | Apr 25, 2024
The presumptive nature of design is that it’s magical. We’ve commented on this proposition extensively. Design as interpretation Design: it is a transformative tool that translates content from one tier of comprehension to something new—a altered plane of...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Cool People, Marketing 2.0, Storytelling | Apr 19, 2024
Exploring the word, the history, the meaning of infectious content. Over the last couple of days, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about soccer—both in outreaches to the soccer-playing community, team owners, well-making soccer-related foundations in support of...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Cool People, Designers, Marketing 2.0, Retail | Nov 9, 2023
The Art of the Shopping Bag It was a reminder from friend Steve Heller, the Design Editor in Chief at Print Magazine, that recalled the legacy of former Bloomingdale’s Chief Creative Officer, John Jay— in the following notation from the Magazine: “Jay’s bags also...
by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Motion Pictures | Oct 26, 2023
How to build brand storytelling for terrifying design narratives Clive Barker It was roughly 40 years ago that I read Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood,” which struck me as a remarkably distinctive turn on the horrifying—as expertly fear-inducing storytelling. Stephen...
by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Human brands | Sep 8, 2023
In case you’ve missed it, check out “talking about you” from last week’s entry. This blog is built out of one of a series of talks I’ve given on equating brand, enterprise strategy and human-based characteristics. It’s a pretty simple premise. Brands are made by...
