by Tim Girvin | Motion Pictures, Storytelling | Apr 30, 2021
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. I resign. —NUMBER 6 I introduced a friend of mine to Patrick McGoohan’s “The Prisoner,” a series that he conceived, starred in and produced for a limited run in the 60s....
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Mar 3, 2021
IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT FLOWERS—THAT, FOR PEOPLE, IS ATTRACTIVE—AS IT IS FOR BEES AND OTHER INSECTS? SOME NOTES ON THE SYMBOLISM OF FLOWERS. As we all know, various flowers have symbolic virtues— the rose stands for something, the lily, another. But I’m curious about...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Feb 26, 2021
THE STRIDE THAT GOES FORWARD COULD BE FROM 4000 YEARS AGO. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT WE TEND TO RECALL MESSAGES IN THE CONTEXT OF POETIC ALLITERATIONS? I WRITE THAT WAY, THINK THAT WAY, IN THE STRINGING OF REPETITIVE CONSONANTS—IT IS A FRAMING FOR MESSAGES THAT FLOWS IN THE...
by Tim Girvin | BRAND MYSTICISM, Incubation, Storytelling | Dec 16, 2020
BRAND OBSERVATIONS, PARTICIPATION IN WATCHFULNESS. In the past, in my observations of brand experiencers, it has been a long journey—and a string of compelling notations of learnings about people and how they relate to brands. I think back to my beginnings, working on...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Dec 9, 2020
IN THE JOURNEY OF BRANDING—AND THE VISUALS AND MESSAGES THAT ARE PART OF ANY BRANDING INITIATIVE—THERE IS, INVARIABLY, A MESSAGE INSIDE THE MESSAGE. THERE’S A STORY IN THE STORY, THERE’S A TELLING INSIDE THE NARRATIVE. I believe that I first experienced this in the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Nov 18, 2020
YOU COULD FIND A WAY OUT, THAT COULD BE A WAY IN. I was first struck by this sign that I found in an antiques shop outside of London; and there’s a story—for those calligraphically-inclined—that this font [for the sign] was originally designed [1918] by early...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Motion Pictures, Storytelling | Nov 11, 2020
AS IS MY NATURE, I TEND TO LOOK BACK: LEARN, TO LOOK FORWARD, FOR WHAT WAS, IS AGAIN —A GAIN. In any study of meaning, it’s also worth a return to the source of that meaning. As a writer, I examine the import of words, where they came from, what they meant and what...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Cool People, Storytelling | Oct 28, 2020
BRANDS ARE, IN ACTUALITY, WORLDS. THEY ARE WORLD VIEWS, THEY ARE PLACES AND ENVIRONMENTS, DIGITAL REALMS; THEY ARE SPARKS OF IMAGININGS; AND THEY ARE THE QUANTIFIED AND ACTUALIZED DREAMS OF FOUNDERS AND FOUNDRESSES. THEY ARE THE RISK AND COMMITMENT OF SWEAT: \LOVE,...
by Tim Girvin | Interior Design, Places, Storytelling | Sep 30, 2020
When you make a place, what gives it soul? Authenticity, material utility, legacy of use. Humanity in play, ingenuity of unexpected applications. Soulfulness wouldn’t support a clinical cleanliness or synthetic manufacture, soul— by its very etymology—refers to sea,...
by Tim Girvin | BRAND MYSTICISM, Concepts, Places, Storytelling | Jul 15, 2020
The Ecology of the Forest as an allegory for community, audiences and customers. We spend a lot of time studying people—watching them, listening to them and studying them in use contexts wrapped around brands. We look at how people use things, bring brands into their...