THE MEDITATION ON PROCESSION | BRAND STORYTELLING AND *EXPERIENTIALITY
How do you listen to a story? How does that work—the yarn drawn
and you being woven into the tapestry of tale.
We think like that—the twice-told telling, that which is unforgettable. The power in everything lies in that which can’t be forgotten. Memory holds.
You hear the telling and you’re drawn into a parallel universe—your imagination takes hold and you’re carried away—that listening is a procession, from the opening of the narrative, to the foundations of the curvature of plot lines, start: forward, prologue and the opening place-making environment. A key to storytelling will be journey—which is about sensing: sight, scent, touch, that which is heard.
Like the finger guided on the progression of the type, and page arrangement,
turned in the seam of the gutter
and margins, turned. So too, the sojourner moved—from the opening stride into the heart of it.
S E N S E + T O U C H:
When we think about a story, a journey into the out-there, the in there,
there is a meditation — every step, what experience would I find, what moment, in momentum?
Everyday is a journey—
and therein the metaphor for brand work: storytelling a brand: how does the narrative begin?
When I think about these giant floor patterns in development—it was about sequencing guest experience, but there was a story of cherry blossoms, gingko and fabulous craft and detailed journey planning, spectacle and wonderment. Here, they were only in development—the store hadn’t opened its story yet.
There is the footfall—the touch of foot on ground;
that’s what?
Is the touch on ground—hard and polished, soft and wet, textured and ruled, smooth and painted?
What of light—loud, directed, open, soft and warmth, luminously spotlit and dark, candle-formed, scintillant?
What of sound—susurrations, and mellifluous in tone, loud and clanging, reflective and echoic, muffled and hushed. Or changing, as the journey moves ahead? Is there a straight-way pathway to be found, or is the journey labyrinthine?
Any experience planner, restaurant designer and retail strategist will be thinking about–and will, or should, know the answer:
— street, and the story found there;
— entry, and story told at the shop windows;
— doorway, and what happens there?
Entering this place, an experiencer crosses the threshold — what happens?
Light, scent, color, texture.
Entry placement, spectacle, windows, pathways — who is there, and how do
they make their way through — and to where, they are going?
Walking, surveilling any environment, we watch: quiet — listen, study, walk and observe.
There is something that I’m feeling here.
“How was it made?”
“How did we feel that?”
Slow down, study and look into the intention of the place made:
from street,
and alley,
store door,
restaurant vestibule,
receptionist,concierge and maître ‘d,
humanity and the
vibe of place,
colour,
warmth,
light—the story of sound.
Reception would be: a whole story.
Place is an embrace into a journey,
a journey of tabulation —
step by step,
moment to moment.
And you get somewhere.
People are touched.
They remember.
They come back.
They share.
A journey, mysterious.
Hard glass, steel and light —
sound loud.
Quiet woods, old electrical —
glittering, luminous, yet soft.
Flowers, cut patterning —
a doubled rhythm of context in story.
Vacuous, underearth,
basemented.
Scary.
Lonely.
But unforgettable.
Every journey
starts with a question; and then a step
in.
In designing experiences, it’s far more than
“brand touch points,”
it’s:
what’s memorable?
It’s sensation.
What’s the point?
“If I’m going on your journey,
your brand story,
what you’ve designed for me:
what is the point,
what is the story,
and why should I be there,
remembering?”
tim | GIRVINOSEANSTUDIOS
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*Experientiality — design thinking founded on a multi-sensory strategy of experience development: integrated holism.
WHY BRANDS ARE LOVED:
Girvin strategies of memory +
enchantment = audience engagement