Twister | Kiev The metaphor of the story, the storm
Designing story, in place, the allegory of nature, space -- in making a place I find myself in the study of the symbolic, the metaphorical -- and, to the end, the magical. I recall when Apple defined the iPad as 'magical." An interesting choice of language in defining...
Leaning in —the curve of listening
The angle of listening, listing and leaning | "Lean In," by Sheryl Sandberg There's no doubt that Sandberg is remarkable -- the incidence of laudations about her come from every degree of the literary arc, including a recent string of notations in the NYTimes, which...
The writing, that goes back
The writing of the eternal return: the perpetual script of spinning time When you contemplate the road forward, there's a chance to look back, the path that brought you to where you are. [image above, from http://mattgirvin.org/] It's difficult work, when you're...
Yakuza, Miss Ko, Paris & restaurant design [GBH]
My Experience With Yakuza: the story of Miss Ko, Paris & Brand story in Restaurant Design [GBH] [Imagery, below, from Ko] Brand, patterning, statement, interiors -- the graphical interplay of message, story and imagery. One trip to Japan, I was in Kyoto, and late...
God made a farmer
The farmer in you | II Planting the seeds of ideals, dreams, the promise in the mission of creativity I'd written a blog, just back, with meditations on the archetypal character of Dodge's "farmer in you" advertising. Storytelling from various people emerged, and some...
Small living, the footprint of restrained living
Small living, the Footprint of Micro places The delicacy of small, thoughtfully crafted, green-built and well-organized places to live in. Working with a housing development team in Seattle, Girvin's ideator® naming team built a naming strategy to support the brand...
Light
In the spirit of light, storytelling illumination. The character of what can be seen, in scene, the drama of Light. As an intensely curious person -- a person that seeks out answers by finding the people that build things, do things, make things, one of my journeys,...
The perfume of Babies
Working in Japan, we designed for Japan, for Shiseido. There's a story there, digging in, building the fluency of designing to another culture, in that culture; it's not American design, transported to work in the Japanese markets, it's designing with a Japanese...
You are a farmer
The Metaphor of the Deeper Storytelling in Brand, the Undercurrent of Persona; the Dodge Farmer Ad, Super Bowl The bigger allegories in archetypal positioning. Imagery, shown [above and below] from the Dodge Super Bowl ad. On Tuesday February 5th, I gave a talk on...
John Jay + Garage
The patterning of time and the Creative Journey The timing of pattern, the layering of story, the weaving of ideas, a tapestry unfurled. The work of living -- is a rippling -- a stone, cast, water bound, rippling, outwards. As those waves reach a shore, the edge of...