I’m Okay, You’re OK.
What is Okay, anyway? I was thinking about the notion of OK, what's that mean, really? The state of Okayness seems mediocre -- it's a condition where things are simply "all right," alright. All is right? What's rightness, a place of stability? Who cares about that?...
The Perfume of the Forest
The Pitch for the Pitch; Resins, Sap and Crushed Conifer In the storm, the fragranced molecules of the woods come alive. A shower of pollens, wood dust, and if the storm is fevered enough, conifers snap needles, deciduous trees shear branches and leaves, bark curls...
Game On | A legacy of Gaming Design
Identity, Story & Experience Design When you think about a game, it invariably is about play. Play and game. And, are you having fun? A quick play: see Girvin's gaming movie and specially commissioned sound track. What is play? What is game? Play is an old word....
The Sound and the Fury
The Acoustical Messages of Place In my study of experience narrative design and the experiencer in place -- for me and for others -- I ponder the notion of sound. As a designer of places to be, to tell stories, to share ideas and products, to evoke comfort,...
Wowness
The Quest for Amazement I'm a Scot; and "wow" is a Scottish word from the 1500s. I find another reference of equal interest, the Southern New England Algonquian [Narragansett] framing, the "powwow." powwaw "shaman, medicine man, Indian priest," from a verb meaning "to...
Soul
SOUL, STORY, BRAND In the history of the work of strategy and design, when it comes down to it, what have you done? Is it about the roaring financial success you have achieved? Or is it about the learnings, the journey, the sorting of experiences? For my practice it...
Zen and Branding
The Contemplative Walk My earlier studies of Thich Nhat Hanh revolved around the walking meditation -- grounding into the earth, walking, breathing, contemplating the open stride; that mindful, mindless walk, open-to-the-moment ambulatory meditation. Being in, deep....
The WATCHER
What Are You Looking At? In the journey of examination, the notion of self study is part of that voyage. But who's with you, who's helping; who's reMinding you? I think that each of us has an ancient soul, something that goes back and back, far into the mists of time,...
JOURNEY, THE STRIDE OF BRAND
WHAT IF YOU'RE THE BRAND? We've written a lot about the brand of you. The truth of the brand will lie in the journey; in exploring any brand, our path is journey -- what route has it been, what telling to the past, the present, the future? That goes for you too. Where...
Where are you going, where have you been?
The journey out, and the journey back; looking forward to where you've been. I was rowing, and as I pull ahead, off the beach and into the choppy slipstream of the salted sea channel, out to the open oceans, I saw that I was rowing away from where I had been, and that...