This week’s Retro '71 concept celebrates America, and what better way to celebrate than a design based on Disney's America on Parade. Around this time of year, many Disney historical blogs pop up with articles celebrating the parade. If you care to learn more about it, I suggest checking out this, and this and even this!
Since the parade was before my time, I’ve never experienced it personally. I had never even heard of it until 2006 when I was at a used book store in a dodgy part of town, combing through the travel section when I came across the hardcover, Disney's America on Parade, by David Jacobs. The book was simply stunning—not only did it give a brief history lesson, but it also showcased photos of the parade as well as parade float models, concept art and illustrations. It was such a beautiful commemorative book, and priced at 3 bucks, I had to have it. Disney should release more commemorative hardcover books to celebrate more theme park experiences.
The design for this week is based on the main logo used for the parade with Mickey, Donald and Goofy recreating the classical painting "Spirit of 1776". Keeping with the theme of Independence Day, I kept the color palette very traditional in red, cream and blue. The illustration is a double offset halftone design, giving it a real vintage feel. The original typefaces used for the parade’s branding were Bookman Swash and Cooper Black Italic Swash, but I opted to use a newer commercial font based on a combination of these two. Finishing the design, I placed the classic Disneyland and Walt Disney World logos at the bottom in honor of the parades' debuts at both parks.
Well that does if for this week’s Retro '71. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday, and I'll see you back here on Friday as our attraction typography case studies are starting back up! My D23 painting is on its way to the Archives in Burbank, the Tiki Whip shirts have been printed, so I'll be shipping them out this time next week. Things are finally getting back to normal! Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.
