by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places, Storytelling | Sep 25, 2014
There is the sign, which is a way — a tool to explain process and direction, to instruct, to mark, to place: made. The Ace Hotel, Expressed Metal Plate But to the notion of place-making, how that sign is made, gesture or stone, or cut metal, wood can tell a layering... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Places | Dec 23, 2015
Rangelands, New Mexico — a long and blank expanse. Then there’s a sign. But it’s presuming something: you know where you’re going. I was transversing high desert rangelands, crossing the state, in a journey to a Monastery out in the desert. On the way there, I saw a... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, General | Feb 2, 2008
The signature is a marking, a signing, that links the gesture of the hand, the fingertips, the wrist, the arm to the mind. It’s a kind of drawing of the mind — your signature is the reflection of your intelligence. That is, I suppose, the character of... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Concepts | Mar 15, 2016
Strategic Magic, Designed Mysticism, Metamagical Thematics. It’s been said that illustration, the real meaning of the word is a shining — to illustrate is “making bright.” But also — to purify. The image above, a sigil of the Heptameron Arbatel, Peter de Abano, 1575.... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Cool People, Designers, Storytelling | Aug 6, 2013
Designed Magic, Magic Designed. It’s been said that illustration, the real meaning of the word is a shining — to illustrate is “making bright.” But also — to purify. In a manner, thinking about illustration as a craft of communication... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Jun 10, 2015
The Context of Message, Framing of Context and Visualization I look for signs that aren’t signs — in a conventional sense — they tell another deeper story, but sigils that signal a message that stand for the nature of a place. Cairns, ovoo, iwakura no mononoke,... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Retail, Storytelling | Nov 11, 2014
The Script of The Multi-Stroke Brush Lettering Old-style Grocery Signage Script When I began my career [1975,] I was a lettering artist, a sign-writer. I wasn’t a designer, I was more to a kind of tradesman. I had no idea about what design was, per se — I knew about... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, General | Jul 25, 2012
Just where, really — are you going? And, if you’re going, are you growing? And why, might be? Shooting words leads to the meditation on their meaning. Sure, you’re thinking that you know what they mean, but what lies beneath that word — could... Read More
by Tim Girvin | BRAND MYSTICISM, Brands, Concepts, Trends | Jan 17, 2017
Design as a Transportive Tool ––––––– We’ve talked about sigils. Most of you might know about the sigil as a House Seal in the Game of Thrones. And I’ve written long about them — the sigil, the signal, the signature, the signing. The seal and the signet. I reach back... Read More
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Designers | Jul 12, 2016
The Thinking of Design, an Interior Journey into the Work and the Word: Sign the Signal, Scribe the Insignia, Script the Sigil and Designate the Signature. Drawing, scratching, scribbling, scarring and scripting – there are alignments in the movement and... Read More
