Working with Steve Jobs
The design strategy of simplification A friend, Stuart Balcomb, a musician and composer in Venice, California, reminded me of something, to design -- and Steve Jobs. I worked as a consultant to Apple, at the behest of Steve Jobs in the late 70s, early 80s. I met him...
Hey, that’s designy!
The etymology of design, the signature of personality -- and your presence. The design of you is what you make of it. The design is you. Your story, your musculature, the tracery of your nerves and veins, how you draw, hold a drawing tool --what you see, mind-fully...
Idea Fire tornado
The metaphor of clouds Cloud-watching, the formation of ideas, cloudmind and the wind, the mist of crowds [Image above, the Palouse, Tim Girvin cloud watching -- photographed by Dawn A. Clark] Coming from a farming family, I'm a skywatcher. Also, as a sailor, I watch...
Heatherwick Studios
The rippling of Genius A friend writes from London -- a visit to the Victoria & Albert show on the design ingenuity of Thomas Heatherwick. It's not the first time that we've observed his shining light. Earlier, working in NYC, we'd noted his work on the curious...
THE PERFUME OF INK, PAPER, WOOD AND LEAD
Notes on the Last Letterpress & the Last Paper Seller -- DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES IN TRAVELING THE JOURNEY OF THE CRAFT, THERE'S A KEY TO RELEVANCE -- IN THE SELLING ENTERPRISE, THE NOTION OF BRAND IN PLACE, BRAND IN THE MIND OF PEOPLE -- THERE HAS TO BE RELEVANCE....
Rodarte and Starbucks
The Mulleavy spirit At Girvin, we've been following, writing about, the Mulleavy sisters for a couple of years. We've also studied, and written about Starbucks. Even Howard knows about our blogs. What is compelling about the sisters Mulleavy is the wild swing of their...
How do you see information as a story?
Visualizing and organizing the perception of information Cinematic interface design as a reference to example Image above: © Cruise/Wagner + Amblin Entertainment It might be said that the rise of infographics -- visualizing, simplifying and organizing content into...
The smoke of fragranced experience: per-fume
The scent, the mist, the water. Morning crossing, Fidalgo Straits. (Photo credits ©Tim Girvin, 2010) Exploring the mist of scent, place and recollections Reaching back, in history and memory -- a series of notations and reflections, about the heart of experience and...
Paper, ink, the book — the printed package
The sensuality of the book I was working in a remote, private room, the so-called rare book library at Girvin | Seattle. It's a small space, and in this book room, the volumes start at about a yard from the floor, then rise up to somewhere around 10 feet. People have...
Retelling retail: spectacle
THE RICHNESS OF STYLE, STORY, CONTENT AND EXPERIENCE PLAYED LARGE Above, The Blue Frog Lounge, Mumbai, India Sound branding | integrated music lounge ––––– What about the sheer implications of style, design made manifest? I have no information on these places, just...