by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Aug 25, 2022
VISUALIZING INFORMATION AS A STORY In a recent grouping of discussions, with a late 19th century-influenced designer, innovator and color theorist, we talked strategy and the tiering of information—in her brand-building around the presumptions of color gravity: the...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Concepts, Storytelling | Aug 11, 2022
TIERING MESSAGING AND LAYERING OF INTENTION IN BRAND NARRATIVES AND STORYTELLING In my earlier work as a calligrapher and lettersmith, I explored—and still study in our work—the idea of layering messages. I see this as a kind of palimpsest—letters on one tier, a...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Places | Jul 13, 2022
THE ORDER OF PATHWAYS AND THE TOUCH OF THE MEMORABLE M A K E A M A Z E M E N T. As brand designers—as with any part of human creativity, “a making” or the construction of a visible object, the made art or the scribed breath of a poem—the point would be to answer this...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Concepts, Human brands | Jun 16, 2022
Brand naming As many know, there is a profession of nomenclature strategy—people who “name” things. It’s an intriguing meditation, given ancient character of the concept of the name, which as the tradition of antiquity proffers, speaks literally to the true nature of...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Storytelling | May 26, 2022
WORKSHOPPING LOVE AND PASSION I was talking to a colleague about “love,” the notion of letter-writing and love-worthy thoughts expressed in a hand-notated missive, one human to another. To that, we were talking about stamps—particularly this love stamp I’d designed...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Concepts, Storytelling | Mar 30, 2022
DESIGN STRATEGIES, DEEP BRANDING, METAPHORICAL NARRATIVES Of course, we have a different way of thinking about the alphabet—as designers, as brand fire starters, letter crafters and identity theorists. If you’re thinking about a letter—what’s your favorite? Me? X. As...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Cool People, Interior Design, Scent | Mar 10, 2022
Designing for perfume—the detailing of scent-related *experientiality: D I P T Y P Q U E. When I see things, invariably I smell them. When I touch things, I hear them. It’s a trait of curiosity—it’s one thing to see things, it’s another to touch them, still another to...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Concepts | Feb 24, 2022
THE SIGILLIC SOLUTION In the journey of brand design and identity, there is the high road, the first summit, the easier vista—the outreach of an accessible view and foundational story: “it’s beautiful, so this must be a beautiful brand.” And then there are the deeper...
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Concepts, Cool People, Designers, Interior Design, Luxury, Places, Retail | Feb 7, 2022
HERITAGE BRAND DESIGN AND SYSTEMIC PATTERNING More than four and a half decades ago, 1976, I pitched the idea of integrative branding to the Creative Director at Nordstrom, Dan Holland, and I presented again—this same thematic strategy, later to Claudia Milne, then...
by GirvinIT | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Jan 19, 2022
In our experience, brands are—and should be—on a perpetual move, never quiet, always exploring, evolving, tuning and turning to new relationships and communities. And most brands do—with forward thinking leadership, they’re thinking—“we’re missing something here, we...
