How Strong Is Your Brand?
Resilience, strength, responsiveness Brands, given their human provenance, have human character in their attitude. A brand doesn’t simply move along of its own accord, it’s not a robotic unit, it’s fired and fueled by humans on both sides of the equation. People...
Top [Secret] Design
Brands That Survive on Stealth, Secrecy and Intrigue I was sitting on a jet with a talkative neighbor, a US Marshal, who coincidentally spoke to me on the theories of the layering of police, detection and intelligence — I thought, “how intriguing.” And then wondered...
How to Do Nothing
The Art of Spacing In. In the frenzy of our present experience, we all struggle with the ever-unrelenting issue of connectivity. We need to be connected to everything, all the time. There is a phrase in the context of social and hybrid community management known as...
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE ROPE, TYING AND THE KNOT
THE THREADING OF IDEAS: THE WEFT, WARP, AND LOOM OF DESIGN As a designer, there can’t be a metaphor more powerful than weaving — the ultimate layering of storytelling — the fantastic pattern-maker and emblem of discovery. In our work, we persistently speak to the...
Your Brand — what could you take away?
Your Brand, too full of “stuff?” What could you take away? In the question of our search for full and robust brands, building them, finding the heart of them, it becomes a query — “when is too much?” Sometimes, it’s better to stay at the heart — the work that resides...
What Is Your Name?
Contexts of Nomenclature and Meaning. According to the Greeks, “the etymon is the name of the true thing.” Etymos=true. What that means is that a name is a deep name, and that the truth would be told. Etymon — comes from the Greek for “truth” — and powerful names for...
HAVE A NICE DAY
WHAT IS: "A NICE DAY?" Nice is one of those tough words, that’s so vague and so commonly used enough that it made me ponder — “what’s that mean?” In my own journey, I live in a place of perpetual curiosity about words and meaning. I listen to what people say, and how...
Spice and Perfume
The Legacy of Fragrance Design and Perfume, Taste Innovation and Spice Strategy In a workshop in Oregon, we studied the layering of taste and scent in new product development innovation summits. What came clear in the study group was a kind of synaesthesia of...
BrandSpirit
The Quest for Heart and Soul in Branding While it’s been suggested by some that “brands can’t have a soul,” it might be proffered that the inherent intimacy of branding to humanity imparts that they have a character that is imbued with a soul-like intentionality —...
Brands That Go Deep
The Deep Quest to Know a Brand Earlier in my life I was an inveterate spelunker, a cave explorer. In a manner, exploring caves is a richly metaphoric enterprise. You go deep into the heart of the earth, in winding, supremely dark and likely unknowable and risky...