by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places, Storytelling | Jan 21, 2014
Don’t go here. Walking an old and beautiful island road, I found this turn off, along with a metal cut-out signing warning: “No.” Why not? What “no” out there?” Of course, I went out there. I can recall a time when I saw a Charles...
by Tim Girvin | Scent | Jan 16, 2014
THE PERFUME THAT FOLLOWS YOU. As you’re walking the street, a hallway, a waft of scent flows by. Multiple “perfumes of place” drift — if you’re open, you’re scenting them. As well, you’re scenting — the fragrance of you,...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places | Jan 14, 2014
A Sense of Place, Design and Experience When I was studying with Reed College’s rockstar+poet+calligrapher Lloyd Reynolds, I spent time with him at his home in Portland, talking, exploring and pouring over his enormous library. We’d write out broadsides,...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places, Storytelling | Jan 9, 2014
The Layers of Intention and Storytelling in the Context of Message and Community As students of environmental design and signing, we’re endlessly studying typography and messaging, signing and fabrication — and, in the end — placement and meaning....
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Jan 7, 2014
It would be better if it was true In the soul-searching of positioning and the right angle of brand, to story, cult and culture and truth in the telling, the woven fabric of brand experience and the personality of that narrative will be far better if the foundations...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts | Jan 1, 2014
MEDITATIONS ON BEING. AND HAPPINESS. In the range of travel, I’ve seen some of the most remarkably dismal, difficult and challenging “survival-focused” environments. And the people in them. Still, smiles emerge. Yes, these New Dehli school girls...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts | Dec 30, 2013
Remembering who the ultimate client is HUMANKIND DESIGN I was talking to a client about the strategy of his brand — mostly operations, organizational planning and construction — and I asked him, “what about the people, what’s their...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Designers | Dec 23, 2013
The Journal of the Practice There is one thing we cannot forget, and that is memory itself. In 40 years of actively designing, working on design and writing and speaking on design practice and innovation, I recall the labyrinthine journey of that involvement....
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Dec 19, 2013
As you explore the perimeter, you scout the range of the work. In our working experience, and in being a Scout and the magnetism of sensation, you need to get close in, first hand, to understand the nature of a brand, its people, its culture; it won’t be...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts | Dec 17, 2013
Sparking innovation and change. There is legitimacy to the metaphor of Fire. Girvin, the team — and Girvin, the family — are fierce lovers of fire. We’ve noted that earlier. But any fire starts with a spark, which can be the beginning of a perceived...
