We tend to think allegorically about the work that we do—
brand as fire,
design as transformation,
and markings as magic.
And plenty of the clients that we work with think of their enterprises as deeply metaphorical and soulfully intentioned —light bringers, wellness makers, cultural transformers, trend breakers, market anarchists, flavor sensualists, and storytelling entertainers.
In the process of living as creatives—you and I–given our personal history as a curious people, wanderers, working in other cultures around the world, for all of us, it sets a different point of vista in
the contemplation of the work.
You might ask yourself:
“What are you doing?
I mean, really, what are you really doing
in this life that you’re living?”
Walking the talk, Arensale, Venezia, IT
Speaking of curiosity and wandering exploration, I was walking south of my studio, down West of Westport, looking at oceanside structures. I found this lighthouse, and exploring it, I was thinking of the meaning and history. The lighthouse, the beacon, this is a sentinel for ocean travelers—it’s particular to sending out a rotating, fog-cutting beam that guides navigators. Of course, it’s not new.
To examine that history, go here.
A 18th century engraving of the Pharos of Alexandria
And the history of the concept
of the lighthouse, the beacon—wander here.
What does this mean to the symbolic thinking around branding?
The lighthouse stands alone, a solo beacon, guiding the journeyer.
The power of the lighthouse beam comes from an ingenious focusing array of prisms
that treats light as a kind of sound wave with a calibrated timbre that concentrates the light as a convexation signal and was invented in the 19th century by a French physicist, Augustin Fresnel,
a dioptic lens structuring called the Fresnel lens—which are evident in lighthouses in the PNW, festooned along a shoreline array littered with shipwrecks.
Grays Harbor Lighthouse
Also to the propositions of design thinking and brand, one might think of the metaphor of the lighthouse as a concentrating device—a focusing element—and idealized expression that is precisely targeted—it reaches out of the dark and the clouded visioning to a projection of certainty—integrated, it’s a crisp register.
Also, it stands tall above all impediments—
it’s a clear-sighted beam out over a broad expanse.
It works non-stop.
Finally, one might think of the structure of the light tower—
this ascension is similarly compelling—a Fibonacci spiral—which as we all know
is a geometry of flow and natural movement.
North Queen Anne Elementary School
My counsel, likely shared by many of you,
is look out for what lies beneath.
Tim | Out, wandering, the far reach.
GIRVIN | OSEAN
The ascending Fibonacci staircase at the Grays Harbor Lighthouse