The Symbolism of the Axe
Brand, story, object and ritual. The art of the axe, chopping wood, arranging wood, starting fires, it holds a string of stories for many. Being in Portland, a proverbial city of the Axe, has built a culture around the axe. The axe is a splitting adze, a blade that...
Strokes of Goodness, The Freedom Signature
The Marking of Meaning, Goodness and Brand Storytelling. We think about the idea of design as a kind of signature -- with mind, motion, memory and meaning. What is design -- but the sign, illustrated. And of course, to signing and illustration, that would be...
Google Monster Signing | London
Making a Statement of Identity in the Procession of Experience. Sometimes, as a designer, one cuts to the chase and puts the story right there, out in front. Big. So too the dynamism of Scott Brownrigg's designed installation of monster identity in the environmental...
windows
The symbolism of the window Thinking design / portals of storytelling / brand / story / insight. In the window to experience, you see in: in=sight. In the window to the object: circumspect -- you walk around, surveil from the circumference. In the window to the soul:...
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...