Blogs By Tim Girvin
In the Realm of the Senses and the Empire of the Hand
And gratitude in being. I was talking to a theatrical advertising designer at Paramount Studios about making. And, as creatives, “how do we make?” Imagination, mind, fist, fingers, lips—mouth and tongue, eyes and ears. What we absorb, as humans, and what we express is...
Blandism and the Detailing of Typographic Design Linguistics
What sways to blandishment? A lot of discussions around last week’s blog— and the notion of brand blandism, and some asked, “wait, so you’re saying that san serif is too bland, too plain, not… ‘exciting’ enough?” No, that’s not the point. As I’d mentioned before, in a...
Classical Modernism. What’s old, and what’s new?
Modern Clinicality, Emotional Heritage and Blandism In my history as a designer, lettering artist and calligrapher, I’ve spent decades studying the history of the alphabet, from pre-Christian Greek letterform development, cut in stone and inscribed in pottery, to...
Ever get a KPI in units sold?
As a Brand Expert, ever Get a KPI in units sold, or tonnage? What if you had a project that had a number of units for sale as a core goal—your KPI deliverable? I’m wondering, have you ever been in a situation where the expectation is in millions of units sold, or some...
Brand Crafting Fear | Designing Frightful Logos for Films
What are you afraid of? When you walk into a dark room, you can’t see anything; and you’re wondering, “wait, is there someone in here?” Or, “am I going to stumble into something? Or…fall down, into something—like, a hole in the floor?” “Who’s in here?—I can hear you...
Brand Legacies and the Soulful Journey
The Arc of the Brandstory in Building Centuried Brands In a reflection of history—GIRVIN’s brand history at more than a half century of continued creativity— there is a story, goes back, 1973, when I first began to work as a brand craftsman: sign-painting,...
Brand Storytelling | Identity Integrations in Experience Design
Logo design stylization in scientific experience strategy and guest journey. When you think about identity, brand identity—the principle expressed with integrated, comprehensive design, message and color systems—a logo can represent a storytelling device that is, one,...
Psychedelic Branding | GIRVIN’s 50 years of Strategic Design
“I’m redesigning my mind with LSD.” When I was in college, studying Marine Biology and comparative Zoology, as well as Medieval art history and cultural studies; psychedelic drugs were commonplace—and, at this particular school—rife with exceptionally brilliant...
The Seeing Hand and The Hearing Eye | Strategies in Synæsthetic Brand Journeys
Customer Processions and Place Experientiality* You’re a journeyer, a wanderer, the wayfarer and walking sensation-searcher, right? When I go anywhere, I like to touch everything. As I come—and go—I’m looking for feelings. Of course, that’s a human condition, but...
The Curve of Time and the Rippling of the Idea
I was talking with an AI-focused electrical engineer about the sound, the signal of electricity. What one person might describe as “static,” another might refer to as the AC’s actual flow through transformative magnetic fields, particularly ferrous or other magnet...