by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Designers, Storytelling | Sep 24, 2026
[Image is a poster keepsake, GIRVIN’s journal workshop, of the rules of the journal-maker in documenting their pathways.] Your Mind Deserves a Room of Its Own I taught classes in journal making—which I see as a kind of room, a palace of memories and inspirations—a...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Designers, Motion Pictures | Aug 13, 2026
There’s a conversation that’s floating around—about the notion of handwork, handmade things; the other, start-up side of ai design. Everything’s digital, of course, in the final interpretation, and application. But to my thinking, “by hand, with mind and...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Designers, Storytelling | Oct 12, 2023
We’re rolling into 50+ years of continuous involvement in brand strategy and integrated design— and as coffee connoisseurs—we’ve savored this brewed beverage all over the world, from Seattle to NYC—Maui too, LA to Vancouver,southwards to Costa Rica, east to...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Designers, Interior Design | Nov 30, 2022
GIRVIN’s Symbolic Patterns for Interiors and Meaningful Graphics in Placemaking Any designer knows that a simple plane, an empty piece of paper, a coverless book, an empty package or the “undefined” skin of a shopfront is a presence without place—there’s no story,...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Brand Mysticism, Cool People, Designers, Storytelling | Nov 28, 2018
CONCEPTIONS OF ITINERANT LEARNING—EXPLORING THE “GO THERE, GET OUT OF HERE” MODELING OF EDUCATION. “YOU COULD LEARN MORE IF YOU ACTUALLY WENT THERE.” I was talking to an LA team on my traveling, vagrant-based approach to learning—leaning-in to learn by...
by Tim Girvin | Designers, Interior Design, Storytelling, Trends | Nov 14, 2018
DESIGNING FURNITURE THAT PROTECTS THE USER. As a designer, I’m frequently talking about the core power of markings. In fact, at Mark Anderson’s futurist, high tech conference—this year in ParkCity, Utah, I was doing just that—talking about the symbolism of the mark...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Brand Mysticism, Cool People, Designers, Interior Design | May 31, 2018
THE HYPERREALITY OF SYNAESTHETIC DESIGN THINKING Used by permission | ©Clodagh | See more of her work It’s been suggested by many that designing holistically is really the tasking of design towards a sextet of responsive and sensational layers for beings and their...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Brands, Designers, Interior Design, Marketing 2.0 | Nov 8, 2017
THE ILLUSTRATION OF THE MIND: FROM THOUGHT TO WORD IN DESIGNED LETTERFORM LINGUISTICS | ALPHABETS AS BRAND VOCABULARIES. Working on hundreds of logos and corporate identity packages, in decades of design and brand development for clients around the world, over time...
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...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Designers, General, Storytelling | May 17, 2012
Layering content, the palimpsest of meaning A calligraphic broadside, a gift, for speakers and presenting participants at The Evergreen State College 40th Anniversary. When I was a student, library adviser, workshop instructor and finally, faculty member [graduate...
