NORDSTROM + GIRVIN | A HISTORY OF 35 YEARS
THE HAND CRAFT OF RETAIL DESIGN IN THE BEGINNING, RETAIL DESIGN GOES BACK TO ONE SIMPLE PROPOSITION. "WHY SHOULD I BUY FROM YOU?" The implications of retail speaks to retelling -- that is, there is a story, and another story, in a story -- and you either buy it, or...
Posting posters
Billboarding, postering the story in the story in the story. [Imagery from PSFK] We've designed dozens of posters, an earlier legacy of work. But we love this Black Sabbath promotion, pointed out by Daniela Walker and "DaBitch." As Daniela notes, "the advertisement,...
Are you a Lone Ranger?
In the Journey, who is your companion? Who is your guardian, your guide, your icon, your shepherding guide? Me? Raven and crow, telling. We've noted in an earlier blog study, that we've been involved in the Lone Ranger, as designers, in the past -- the current,...
Archetypal Symbology and The Design of Place
Design thinking deep metaphors When I was working as a brand / design strategist at Procter & Gamble, on brand innovation, I'd partnered with a closely-aligned colleague there, Iain Douglas. We talked about, and worked on, the layering of ideas -- of stories, of...
The Signature of a Man
Designing the Hand-made Letter Craft of a Human Brand What the person is, show shall his signature tell his story. The signature is a graphical amalgam of emotion, traits and experiences that craft the character of the hand, the gesticulation of time, the musculature...
The Fragrance Design of Man’s World
The Scent of Maleness -- the Fragrance Design of Man's World The ArcherMen Lexicon of Fragrance. Spray it on. The New Meaning of "Air Superiority." There is something to the world of fragrance design that presumes subtlety, delicacy, restraint in the alchemy of...
When I touch you, will you hold me?
Conceptualizing holding, in the context of relationship, experience and brand. I was working as a charrette leader on brand for a beauty and wellness start-up. We talked about -- "why, who, where, what?" The big questions. And we talked about the telling of tales, the...
The Layering of Personality
Writing out the Telling of Brand Character When you meet someone -- impressions emerge, tellings happen, characterizations frame themselves. I've always believed in the idea of listening, and writing it out. When I ask a question I'm looking for an answer, but I'm...
Finding a way | The strategies of way-finding,messaging and signage design[from 2000 years ago]
Designing storytelling, in brand experience and place-journey-making. Earlier in my career, I was studying the concept of signage design in the setting of Imperial Roman culture. From the 500 -- 1500 years, BCE, to roughly 400 ACE the idea of cutting important...
The Patterning of Retail, Retold: Istanbul
A Place has a Pattern, a Brand has a Chromosomal Character, That is Evinced in Visual Language; and so too, Language is a Patterning. I'm looking for patterns; I'm always looking for the patterning of things that I know on the surface, and the patterns and...