Anyone can think symbolically—and likely, we all do.
You see something and think, “that reminds me of a…”
Living in a creative space, the memory palace of explorations, memories and meaning—the imagination swerves to new pathways, neural leaps to stringing ideas together in new ways, the brain re-circuits and new paths are created.
Working earlier, with another scientist, he reframed another conversation about discovery.
“For us, as scientists and researchers, we’re always looking for that leap—the jump to the new, the next, the better solution. It’s kind of like we’re rattling at the edge of an idea, we keep hammering at it, trying to break through—all of us, working together, separately, regionally, nationally or internationally. It’s really about shattering paradigms. We shuttle at the edge of an inspiration, the state of the platform of knowledge in place—and it’s our mission to understand that edge. And break it.
I’d written about that earlier.
What is life but a string of refreshments? For the symbolic thinker, it is a discovering: a way of seeing, momentarily—a challenge, a cast-out idea, a gesture to newness, WOWNESS as the surprised state of being remade—as a new proposition of potential?
Watching innovation, isn’t it interesting how sometimes, the most potent innovation, the freshest idea—the starting point in instinct-fueled ideations—or a potential mindful, later capture of direction—is that first-off idea[l]?
“It’s so cool that we just found this—and used our core inspiration, the start-up idea from the beginning—but we broke through to a newly rethought approach, which we remade, and now refreshed.”
Paradigm-breaking [see Thomas Kuhn]—explore the dream of shattering past paradigms and moving to refreshed strategies of seeing, then making new wowness in your brands and enterprises.
I ponder the blizzard of “rethinks” that are out there, now—and simplicity of the first start, the opening idea—the raw instinct of the first off innovation. Tom Fishburne offers his interpretation—
and, to it, the play on the core of the problem.
And perhaps, it’s how you get back to it—the core. Of course, core is etymologically aligned with coeur and the ancient PIE seed sound: cor which is “heart.” And courage—of the heart.
Over time, working on brand transitioning, refreshment and innovation projects, we team-build and collaborate, with thinkshopping BrandQuests®, the key lies in looking for sparks, for threads that lead back to the center of the challenge. It is, oftentimes, the listening that is the beginning. Listening, seeing, sensing—wholly, the instinct of the rightful, focused listener will steer surprise, and the surmising—the shattering of one platform of understanding that bursts to the newest.
To our thinking, symbolically considering the nature of an extant scenario, poses a new possibility of rethinking where you are, and where you could be.
In our explorations, we’ve explored brand metaphors and allegorical, symbolic modeling for brand thinking around the characters of several points of immersive imaginings.
You might have other thoughts, your own personal explorations of metaphors, symbolic lines of thinking towards aligning ideals, strategic impetus and tactical deployment.
What are they?
Let me know how we can help.
Tim | GIRVIN | Strategic Brands
Digital | Built environments by Osean | Theatrical Branding
Technology Branding | Destination Brands
Projects in strategy | story | naming | messaging | print
identity | built environments | packaging
social media | websites | interactive
