Blogs By Tim Girvin
H E L L O,
Luxury Branding and Patterning
Perhaps you know the classic rendition of "A Pattern Language"? The premise of this fine theoretical explication by Christopher Alexander is that there are a series of movements, patterns, that relate to how space, volume and presence can be reflected in human...
Understanding international presentations
Examples of what your international meetings involve: Global encounters that I've been involved in usually relate to complex presentations involving design -- and different kinds of design: identity, packaging, brand strategy, retail design and environmental graphics....
to applaud Al Gore, Nobel Peace Laureate
"Thank you, bless you -- Al Gore; what greater giving, what better gift to the planet, than your new dawning of insights, intelligence and calm authority in advising the world -- finally -- to what future there might be...and what future we might create anew?"...
Notes to a student
I believe that the story is the way that people connect with each other. I tell you a story about me, you learn something -- there's a possible magnetic link between us; we've made some opening range of a connection. And from there...what, where might it go? I'm...
Johnson & Johnson Design Center
I spent time with the team at Johnson & Johnson -- first, Skilling, out past Princeton; then at their original spaces on 26th, over by the river, in Chelsea, then in their new design labs. They've got the best section of the building, south facing, relatively high...
Inspiration: the finding, the depth, the found
What did influence me? Practice for one, looking for another. I look, I find. I research, I uncover. I dig, I excavate. When I was in college, I did this one section, this one grouping of studies of the history of the letterform. What is that, anyway? Palaeography....
Brand symbolism
When you look, you find. In working on a brand development project in eastern Washington, I was walking their vineyard to get, literally, the lay of the land. And, I'm looking for what lies beneath, what lies inside the brand story. And in any brand development, it's...
John Larson NBC Kiva Story
Hi and good morning. Starting off, after the absence of Labor...day. Welcome back! ---- Here's a story about a story. The thing that I believe in, personally, is that it's sometimes hard to imagine that small things really matter -- but they do. And in a way,...
Spirit light painting
I realized that the branding visualizations that Sprint's been doing with conductor-like expressions of people moving things, ideas, teams, etc., with light, was strangely reminiscent of something in my mind -- not sure what, but it's there. Something. And what I'd...
The cartography of language and meaning
Visual Thesaurus visualizations, brand development and GIRVIN. ---- As a designer, and someone that works in the space of branding and the human character of business communications, writing plays a significant role. Moreover, there's the issue of how people...