GIRVIN

The Script of Odysseus

Design strategies, temporal tactics in typography and the palæographic narrative The calligraphy above is a rendering of ODYSSEUS [ΔΟ-ΥΣ-ΕΥ-Σ] I crafted in the ancient Greek boustrophedon style starting right to left, then left to right, the back again. This was an early inspiration—ancient Greek literature and the markings that made it. Vessel with double alphabet inscription, showing new letters ΥΧ[Φ]Ψ, and ΥΧΦΨΩ....

The Script of Odysseus - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design Design strategies, temporal tactics in typography and the palæographic narrative The calligraphy above is a rendering of ODYSSEUS [ΔΟ-ΥΣ-ΕΥ-Σ] I crafted in the ancient Greek boustrophedon style [as the ox plows] starting right to left, then left to right, the back again. This was an early in...

Designing Disneyland & Imagining Collaborative Innovation

Working Imagination | The Imagineers at Disneyland In my history as a design leader, we worked around various propositions of entertainment at Disney—not only working on films, but Disneyland itself, in a string of calls from the Imagineering teams at Disney, Glendale, CA. These were patent-related calls—new technology applications that Imagineering had produced involving the development of mist-generated projections, moveable props,...

Designing Disneyland & Imagining Collaborative Innovation - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design [Image shot onsite at Disneyland | Tim Girvin] Working Imagination | The Imagineers at Disneyland In my history as a design leader, we worked around various propositions of entertainment at Disney—not only working on films, but Disneyland itself, in a string of calls from the Imagineering teams at...

Volatility and Brand Alchemy

Everything changes; everything is on fire. Nothing is the same as it was; everything is the same as it shall be. In the mist of experience, it’s all changing—still, standards flow, and patterning emerges. While everything is in flux, everything goes as it has from the past—yet, now, the speed of the wind of change are accelerating. It is flitting, fleeting, faster....

Volatility and Brand Alchemy - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design Everything changes; everything is on fire. Nothing is the same as it was; everything is the same as it shall be. In the mist of experience, it’s all changing—still, standards flow, and patterning emerges. While everything is in flux, everything goes as it has from the past—yet, now, the speed ...

Brand allegories | The Symbolism of the Knot

Certain symbols follow us through life, resurfacing at pivotal moments until we recognize them as guides. For brand strategist Tim Girvin, that recurring symbol is the knot—an ancient motif of inextricability, cycling, and containment found from Tibetan prayer flags to the Lindisfarne Gospels to the geometric mastery of Islamic art. Tracing the knot's journey through Celtic tradition and the intricate patterning of Casablanca's Grand Mosque, this piece explores what the eternal knot can teach brand designers about weaving meaning, memory, and connection into the customer experience....

Brand allegories | The Symbolism of the Knot - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design Certain symbols follow us through life, resurfacing at pivotal moments until we recognize them as guides. For brand strategist Tim Girvin, that recurring symbol is the knot—an ancient motif of inextricability, cycling, and containment found from Tibetan prayer flags to the Lindisfarne Gospels to t...

Congratulations to our client Kirsten Soderlind, the mind behind Arteriel, on the launch of her brand online! Our involvement started eight years ago—from the development of the logo, brand language, and pitch deck, to templates for print merchandise. Looks like Kirsten’s perseverance, patience, and gift for building connections (and connecting the world to art) is starting to pay off!

The Symbolism of the Hash Tag

The Hatching Stroke and the Ubiquity of Archetypal Design Thinking # I was walking the beach near my studios and found the above timber mark, cross-hatched into a log, the proverbial “pound” or number sign. And I wondered about it. “When this type of mark is made, what meaning could it imply?" As a designer and symbologist (yes, an invented word for a scholar of symbols,) the quest for the kernel of the original idea and patterning in consciousness—whether visual, textual, physical or psychic—is a perpetual listening, it's that leaning-in, at full attention, an unbridled curiosity, to hear, absorb, learn, and know more....

The Symbolism of the Hash Tag - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design The Hatching Stroke and the Ubiquity of Archetypal Design Thinking # I was walking the beach near my studios and found the above timber mark, cross-hatched into a log, the proverbial “pound” or number sign. And I wondered about it. “When this type of mark is made, what meaning could it imply?"...

Coming to Las Vegas | A Talk on Motion Picture Branding

There’s a conversation that’s floating around—about the notion of handwork, handmade things; the other, start-up side of ai design. Everything’s digital, of course, in the final interpretation, and application. But to my thinking, "by hand, with mind and meditation," might be another rendering, pardon the gesture to the draftsperson. The mind side, of course, is the close-in listening, the lean-in to the story,...

Coming to Las Vegas | A Talk on Motion Picture Branding - Girvin | Strategic Branding & Design There’s a conversation that’s floating around—about the notion of handwork, handmade things; the other, start-up side of ai design. Everything’s digital, of course, in the final interpretation, and application. But to my thinking, "by hand, with mind and meditation," might be another renderi...

The end of an era, or just the beginning? If you’ve ever crossed the Wishkah River Bridge, you’ve passed under its iconic Aberdeen billboard. Seen by 8,000 drivers daily, the city needed to replace the faded artwork, but also wanted to revive interest in and celebrate the town itself (not just as a “Gateway to the Olympics”) with refreshed design and focus. They chose us to reimagine Aberdeen’s identity as a destination—full of history, culture, and industry.

We’ve worked with Tom Roberts on all of his brands—dental offices, racing instruction in Germany at Nürburgring, and now his coaching and philosophical book about Flow.