THE QUEST FOR SOUL | BRAND STRATEGY, MYSTERY, SURPRISE AND DISCOVERY
NOT EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUS; SOME ARE MISTED; THEY ARE OCCULT, CONCEALED FROM PRESENCE. SOUL-FINDING, THE DESIGN OF CREATIVITY AND THE PATHWAY TO SOLUTIONS. It can take a quest to find what can’t be known from the surface. What we find—in our BrandQuest®-ing, this...
BRANDSHINE
SURPRISE: BRAND TRANSITIONING, SPECTACLE AT SHELF AND EPIPHANIC REDISCOVERY ––––––––––––– We were talking to a team of people about "epiphany at shelf.” Goes like: “there’s a product that I know. It’s familiar—I’ve heard something about it, I’ve seen some promotions,...
MEDITATIONS ON BLUE
Le Saut dans le Vide (Leap into the Void); Photomontage by Harry Shunk of a performance by Yves Klein Rue Gentil-Bernard, Fontenay-aux-Roses, October 1960. THE SENSING OF COLOR. PANTONE’S BLUE 2020. “May all that emerges from me be beautiful.” Y V E S K L E I N I...
SAMURAI BRAND STRATEGY | KNOW THAT WHICH IS A ROUND YOU
BRAND SENSATIONALISM: HOLISTIC BRANDING AND SPHERICAL EXPERIENCE STRATEGY As in many studies of business, the notion of samurai strategy is most commonly evinced in “The Book of Five Rings,” written by warrior artist Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵, c. 1584 – June 13, 1645)...
RALPH LAUREN AT 50 | STORYTELLING THE BRAND | ENVISIONING AMERICAN DREAMS
50 YEARS, WALKING THE DREAM, BRAND STORYTELLING VISIONING IN THE MAN, THE BRAND: RALPH LAUREN This goes back, and it speaks to my own history at the beginnings of my career, which now sorts out to about 45 years. There was a meet-up, momentary and gracious, with Mr....
THE JOURNEY OF THE FONT | BESPOKE TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN
DESIGNING THE ALPHABET AS A TOOL OF BRAND EXPRESSION IMAGE: GIRVIN for Bloomingdale's | digitally-incised dimensional ornamental star alphabets in 12 languages –––––– What about typography— what it looks like, the form of language, visualized? What about this lettered...
THE BRAND, THE MAKER, THE PERSON
IN THE QUEST FOR ENTERPRISE, BRANDS ARE INTIMATELY LINKED TO THEIR MAKERS In the journey of brand development, in the work that creators build in the envisioning of products usually aligns their personal character in the mix of their making. That is, brand DNA is...
THE HAIKU OF SCOTT OKI
DESIGNING BOOKS AROUND THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE MOMENTARY It’s been said that haiku are the quintessentially delicate framings of momentary meditations on instances of fleeting revelations, tripartite in two ways: three meditations, as well as kigo (Japanese,...
WOWNESS AND THE STATE OF WONDER
THE BRANDQUEST® FOR AMAZEMENT Isn’t it so that we’re all looking for wonderment—that state of surprise and amazement? I was talking to my father about my work—“why are you still doing it?” He retired one year before the age that I am now. I told him that “I’m looking...
THE OPENING OF THE NYC NORDSTROM FLAGSHIP STORE
EVERY JOURNEY HAS A BEGINNING—ITS END IS MERELY ANOTHER BEGINNING. In my history with Dawn Clark, my best friend, design partner, consulting collaborator, surfing mate, it’s been a long evolution of watching her ideations of the Nordstrom store-wide redesign, from her...