by Tim Girvin | Brands, Motion Pictures, Retail, Storytelling | Feb 18, 2026
Classical lettercraft meets a precision draft, engraved in steel. In the spring cleaning of our moves to GIRVIN’s 16th office location, in the West Queen Anne Elementary School, in Seattle I was sorting through a grouping of files—like a large grouping, dozens of...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Feb 11, 2026
A brand allegory reveals itself in an ancient practice A question for you might be—”have you ever stacked stones?” “And, what for, why did you arrange them?” Start at the bottom, rise up. Stacking stones is a symbolic act and it’s a global proposition—...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Storytelling | Jan 28, 2026
50 years ago, I got my first passport, it was in 1976—a US Bicentennial year. This was my first international travel, alone. I was 23 years old. But it was the beginning of a journey that would change my life. I’d been corresponding with designers in the US, as well...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Nov 26, 2025
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...
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 | Brands, Concepts, Interior Design, Retail, Storytelling | Jan 17, 2023
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, A KEY POINT OF RESONANCE IN BRAND EXPERIENTIALITY* COMES DOWN TO THE HOLISM OF SENSATION. How does it feel? How unforgettable is the holism of your feelings— or your guests feelings—about it? For many of us, that would be what we see—but...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Aug 14, 2019
THE ART OF GETTING LOST. BRAND STRATEGY, GETTING LOST AND THE JOURNEY TO BEING FOUND. ALL THAT WANDER SHALL BE FOUND The Quest for Metaphor, Personal Symbolism and the Iconography of Journey IN THE WORK ON BRAND, THERE’S AN EMERGENCE: ENTERPRISES THAT LOSE THEIR WAY....
by Tim Girvin | Brand Mysticism, Brands, Storytelling | Dec 19, 2018
EXAMINING THE DEEP SPACE OFSOULFUL BRAND STRATEGY. W H A T I F? You were to think: “really—there’s something deeper, more profound, more magnetically, more soulfully powerful about the enterprise that I’m working on.” There’s more. Really? Perhaps you...
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 | Concepts, Storytelling | Oct 13, 2018
THE DESIGN VOCABULARY: VISUALIZATION, MESSAGING AND THE PATTERNING OF IDEAS, MARKS AND MEANING. I had a chance to present, at the behest of the esteemed Mark Anderson a string of ideas at the Strategic News Service presentation of FiRe at the Stein Ericksen Lodge in...
