Glow-in-the-Dark Cobweb Candy Cart

Welcome back to our last special Halloween holiday post. Over the summer, after watching a viral video of a cotton candy spinner, I developed a small obsession with the art of cotton candy making. I researched brands, makers, machines and various other sugary sweet offerings related to this fun delectable. When I learned about the LED light-up cones used for cotton candy over in Disney California Adventure, I had an idea for how to put a new spin on cotton candy. 

My idea was to reformulate the sugar floss so that the coloring within the sugar crystals is black light-responsive as well as safe to eat. In place of the multi-color LED lights within the cones would be mini black light LEDs. I could only think of one place where this product should live: The Haunted Mansion Glow-in-the-Dark Cotton Candy Cart.

The cotton candy would be branded as Cobweb Candy, and through the technique of double spinning—which is used to create multi-colored cotton candy on one cone—the treat would take on a ghostly appearance.

For the past six years I have had a Disney partner in crime. While he lives in Canada and I live in Indiana, our passion for all things Disney has kept us conspiring toward magical madness. I decided to run the concept by him to see if he'd like to help out with the idea. He loved it and we both agreed to work together in bringing this dream one step closer to a reality. 

We came up with the story that the cart belongs to a Mason who deals in the dead. The cart’s design has bricks, shovels, bags of mortar, trowels and other various tools a graveyard Mason would need. We incorporated the wrought iron detailing from the Mansion into the top of the cart to help tie in the Mansion’s theme. The signage plays upon various fonts used over time for the Mansion’s branding. We imagine the cast members working the cart would be dressed similarly to the caretaker within the Mansion. The cart would have an area for the cotton candy spinner machine, finished product behind glass and compartments for the ingredients and the cash register. The spinner machine itself would also have a center black light so the candy would glow while the cast member spins his webs of wonder.

The cart would only roll out at dusk and would be located near the Mansion’s entrance.

I want to give a big thanks to Ian Giles for helping out with this concept! I couldn't blue-sky without you!!!! Well that does it for this week’s post. Tune in next week as I return to my typography case studies and other random apparel goodness. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!

Epcot 30th Product Concept

Welcome back folks—I hope you all had a great weekend. This week, I'm showcasing another idea I had, this time for hardlines. . .more specifically for Epcot's 30th.

My current day job is working in softlines—more specifically, apparel—but while designing shirts all day long, I do dream of things other than cotton, waterbase, plastisol, and tri blends. As I had mentioned before, my first job out of college was designing hardlines and social stationery for various entertainment/animation properties, so when I'm out and about, I can’t help but take notice of what various Disney licensees are up to. I also keep myself up to date on the new style guides the designers at DCP crank out.

Last week I was walking through a big box chain store and came across a night light produced by the Jasco Company. The shape of the light and its functionality drew me in instantly, and I could see how this one item could be remolded, designed and repackaged for Epcot's 30^th. The light itself is a geodesic dome that projects an image onto your wall, floor or ceiling at night. The biggest change I made would be to actually remold the globe of the light to resemble the panels of Spaceship Earth. Other than that, nothing else was changed from the original light.

At present the nightlight is targeted to a younger demographic, hence the properties used on the existing product in stores, mostly Disney Princesses and Cars. But regardless of age, what Disney fan wouldn't want to drift off to slumberland with visions of Spaceship Earth, Mesa Verde, or Dreamfinder glowing softly above their heads?

Well that does it for this week’s post. Tune in next week for more Designerland offerings. Have a great week, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Retro '71

I would like to extend a big thanks to all the visitors and fans that have shown interest in the Adventureland Dole Whip Shirt. At present I have roughly 25 people interested, and if we're going to actually get these printed off, I would need to get that number up to 100 people!  The more people we can get, the lower the cost is for everyone. If you're still serious about the shirt, let's get the news out there. Please help me by hitting up the various Disney forums, Facebook pages, Twitter and so on . . . it's time to summon the twilight bark!!!!! And now on to this week’s post . . .

This week’s Retro '71 shirt is another concept inspired by an old park brochure. Drawing inspiration from the 1981 Walt Disney World Resort brochure, I recreated the Tomorrowland logo. The logo depicts an almost Transformers-like type treatment with its glossy gradients and pairs it with a spaceman Mickey in weightless orbit high above.

When recreating this art, one begins to pick up on subtle clues that the original was hand illustrated/created, such as the weights and heights of the characters are slightly off.

This has been one of the more time-consuming Retro' 71 designs. While I'm happy with the outcome, this design would be rather pricey to actually produce due to the amount of colors used within the design. Remember the more ink, the more money that goes into production. Also, Retro '71 shirts are all water-based inks, and these are more expensive than standard plastisol inks.

Typography is usually the first thing I look at—if the type treatment is unusual, interesting or just plain cool, then the chances are good that I’ll feel compelled to recreate and manipulate the design. However, I really enjoyed recreating the character artwork for a change, and I may add a few others to the line. That about does it for this week—once again, thanks for visiting!

Retro '71

 

I’ve received several reader emails asking if my Retro '71 shirts are available for sale. It saddens me to tell you that none of my shirts are for purchase due to obvious copyright issues. However, this week’s Retro '71 shirt concept is another story—this shirt design could be for sale if fans enjoyed it and there was a demand. No Disney copyrighted art in this one!

The design is not based on a show or attraction, but on a rite of passage when it comes to the Disney Theme Parks. Within Adventureland at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, there's a "must eat" on every visitor's list: the Dole Pineapple Whip! If it's not on your bucket list, it should be. It's the most amazing frozen concoction in the parks! The Dole Pineapple Whip is a staple and is so popular that Disney added a whip machine in the Polynesian Resort back when the quick service area was refurbished. I'm assuming Disney will also add this frozen treat to the new Trader Sam Tiki Bar and the Tangaroa Terrace Restaurant at the Disneyland Resort Hotel.

For this week’s shirt I tried to take a whimsical yet kitschy approach with the design. I wanted to not only represent the whip itself, but to also reflect the tropical Tahitian feel of Adventureland. What better icon to represent the spirit of Oceania than a Tiki warrior? To throw a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor into the design, I thought it would be clever to have him holding a whip in his hands. Of course this fierce tropical warrior couldn't be so mean when enjoying this delectable treat, so his intimidating frown has been turned upside down. I can imagine after the park closes that the statues, carvings and idols from around Adventureland break their poses and all hit up the Dole Whip stand to reward their hard day’s work of entertaining guests.

So, would you sport the shirt? If enough people are interested I might be able to produce a small run! Let me know in the comments section if you're a Yay or a Nay. Well that's it for this week’s concept. Thanks for visiting Designerland, and remember: when a good time comes around, you must whip it!

Retro '71

 

This week’s Retro '71 concept is based on one of my favorite attractions, Pirates of the Caribbean. What better timing than with the fourth installment of the Pirates film series opening this Friday? I've been awaiting this film ever since that fog started to roll in and the stage began to turn revealing none other than Jack Sparrow himself at the first D23 Expo.

I have many favorites when it comes to attractions within the Disney Parks, and usually it's a toss up between the Haunted Mansion and POTC. However, I had to ride one attraction over and over, it would be Pirates of the Caribbean, hands down!

I was raised on Walt Disney World's version until the summer of 2005 when I first got to experience the original at Disneyland. It blew my mind—it had additional scenes, extra drops and it was longer. If I could combine the facade and queue of Disney Word's Pirates with a carbon copy of Disneyland's ride, I think I would be in attraction heaven! The only problem would be the Blue Bayou—it's my favorite restaurant at Disneyland, but a southern plantation-style estate wouldn't fit in with the more Spanish look of Disney World's Pirates. I wouldn't be opposed to a different waterfront inside-dining experience appropriated for the attraction.

The artwork on this week’s apparel comes from the original POTC logo that was painted on the stucco walls of the attraction. It was also seen on matchbooks that one could acquire in Adventureland. The typeface is a modified version of Bookman Swash and if you've been following the Designerland Attraction typography case studies, you would know by now that the designers LOVED this typeface.

I roughened the edges of the logo and then placed a set of crossed pirate swords in the background to keep with the motif of the attraction. Once again, the shirt is a simple 2 color water based print with no underlay to give the ink that faded sun look, plus some of the usual distressed texture.

Well that's it for this week. I hope you all go out and see On Stranger Tides. I hope to see you back here soon for more Disney Designerland fun! Have a great week!

Retro 71

This week’s Retro 71 concept is a special twofer. The concepts are based on my favorite resort, The Polynesian Resort. The Polynesian Resort was one of the original hotel concepts dreamed up by WED Imagineering for the Walt Disney World Resort, and it opened the same year as the theme park in 1971 under its original name, The Polynesian Village. The resort has not only grown in size due to its popularity, but it has also seen some changes in its look and branding. From fonts to color palettes, to pools to interior decor, the resort has evolved over the years.

When thinking of shirt concepts for the Polynesian Resort, I wanted to pay tribute to the original name of the resort and use the original logo with the iconic tiki idol. I love all the old branding where the designers used the main tiki idol on pretty much everything from hand soap wrappers to shot glasses (aka tooth pick holders), from frosted libation mugs to even "privacy please" door hanger signs. Nowadays he's seen in a few places around the resort, most notably on trash cans.

The first shirt concept is the classic logo. I tried to plus the design by changing the colors to match the original tile floor of the resort. The original color palette of the resort consisted of deep browns, aqua teals and mossy looking yellowish greens, and I wanted to bring that back to keep it consistent with the overall look of these shirts. I picture this design on a vintage ringer that has color banding around the arms and neck in either a dark brown or the same color as the resort name depicted on the shirt.

The second shirt concept is our favorite tiki idol, but with his legs! Today, only a couple of locations remain where you can still see him depicted with his jaunty little legs. Keeping the color story consistent with the first shirt, I incorporated the same color palette.  I believe it really captures the feel and tone of the resort from back in the day. When looking at the shirts next to each other, I can imagine seeing them sold together at the Boutiki in the Great Ceremonial House. In my downtime, I've come up with an entire product line that includes these two shirts along with a few other fun tropical treasures that celebrate the history and traditions of this amazing resort.

Well that about does it for this week’s Retro 71 segment. I hope you enjoyed the designs! Until next time, have a swell week and be on the lookout for a new soundboard coming soon, not to mention even further looks into the typefaces used on some of our favorite Disney Theme Park attractions. See ya soon!

Retro 71

 

This week’s Retro 71 concept is another design based on the classic Disney Theme Park souvenir bags. Epcot Center merchandising used this particular bag design back in the early 80's. It mimics the same off-set style seen on other Disney Resort bags from a few years earlier, which I've already worked into a shirt design a few months back. The original bag’s color palette uses periwinkle purples, burnt reds, golden rod yellows and bright oranges. The overall design is a perfect transition between the late 70's and early 80's.

Recreating the graphic in Illustrator would have given this design a crisp new look, so I opted to distress and texture the design before turning it into a vector in order to pay homage to the fact the art came from a paper bag. Most of the bags still floating around from this time period have seen some wear and tear, and I wanted to reflect said wear with this design instead of just recreating it. Also, I wanted to retain that off-set registration look. I decided to change the color palette up by replacing the purple with a brighter aqua and by using a gradient of vintage colors seen in other Epcot Center branding from the time period.

Overall I think it's one of my favorite Retro 71 designs, but then again I'm a little partial to all of them. That concludes this week’s Retro 71 segment. I look forward to seeing you back on Friday for a new Designerland Case Study. Have a good week and see you soon!

Retro 71

This week’s Retro 71 shirt concept is based on the 1989 Walt Disney World Resort ticket art. I remember this particular design among others from my childhood, from a time before the key card tickets came into play. I always enjoyed the iconography of the tickets, so what better place to appropriate these designs than for the Retro 71 line. 

The color palette is taken from a ticket from a later date, but the design remained the same. The muted teal greens and washed-out creams remind me of how the tickets would look toward the end of our vacations: highly used with lots of wear and tear. I always enjoyed the paper/cardstock Disney used for the older tickets. By the end of our trips, the paper would become soft from wear and the cotton fibers would begin to pill. With that in mind, I added some aging and distressed textures to the design. 

Well that does it for this week’s Retro 71 installation. The apparel line is really taking shape, and judging by the responses from readers, I think it could be a huge success. Thanks for stopping by and have a good week. Make sure to come back this week—I have a special treat in store. See you soon!

Retro 71

This week’s Retro 71 concept is my take on Disneyland's "coming soon" attraction sign for the Haunted Mansion. The sign, created by WED, was posted on the gates of the Mansion in the mid 60's. The simple wood cut sign featured the clever writings of Mr. Marty Sklar. This hand-painted sign featured a skull-bat icon at the top, with copy that advertised "post-lifetime leases” which included a "license to scare the daylights out of guests visiting the Portrait Gallery, Museum of the Supernatural, graveyard, and other happy haunting grounds."

I recreated this sign in Illustrator then changed up the body copy slightly—my version directs ghosts to contact Walt Disney World's Ghost Relations Department rather than Disneyland's. I removed the spider web icon from behind the text and placed a photo of Walt Disney World's Mansion from the early 70's that was taken through one of my all-time favorite filters in Photoshop. After that, I adjusted the Mansion photo in Illustrator to make it a vector object so that separations for screen printing films would be possible. The color palette consists of washed-out, ghostly grays and eerie whites. I have a few other color combinations for this shirt, but I feel the distressed texture and faded look lends itself to the established branding that is Retro 71. 

Well that about does it for today. Tune in this Friday for another theme park typography case study. Thanks for dropping in and hurry back!

Retro 71

This week’s Retro 71 concept is a simplistic design based on another souvenir bag from Disney Theme Parks. The bag I looked to for inspiration was used at Disneyland back in the early 80's, I believe. I had found the retro bag on the blog, Jungle is 101, and instantly fell in love with the design. More recently, two of my favorite Disney Consumer Product gurus, Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily, designed a limited edition ceramic version of a classic paper cup that featured the same design, which makes me suspect that souvenir bag could be from even further back, seeing how the ceramic cup was based off of a design from 1955.

For my take on this look, I simply replaced the icon of Sleeping Beauty's Castle with the classic retro icon of Cinderella's Castle. I kept the color palette similar to the bag design as I really enjoyed the color combinations. The clothing marker below shows the design on a simple white t-shirt however the real shirt would be a vintage ringer tee with yellow contrast banding around the arms and neckline. The simplistic design is fun and whimsical, and was classic enough to stand alone without any distressing or texture. 

Well that about does it for this installment of Retro 71. I look forward to seeing you back soon for my Designerland updates. Have a good week!

Retro 71

This week’s Retro 71 shirt concept is from the long-withdrawn Magic Kingdom classic, If You Had Wings.

Located in Tomorrowland, If You Had Wings was one of the original attractions in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World resort. Since travel and flight were the main themes of the attraction, IYHW saw its fair share of travel industry sponsors over time, such as Eastern Air Lines, then later Delta Airlines. The attraction was somewhat of a carbon copy of Disneyland's Adventure Thru Inner Space: both attractions were dark rides that utilized the same Omnimover track system, and both were designed by one of my favorite Disney Imagineers, Claude Coates. Both were located in Tomorrowland, and whether or not it was intentional, both attractions had four-word names.

 IYHW, however, seemed to change names with every change in sponsorship: If You Could Fly in 1987, Delta Dreamflight in 1990 and Disney's Take Flight in 1997. The attraction closed its doors in 1998, but has since been reimagineered by WDI to what is now known as Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Even though this attraction had a more contemporary theme, it still felt at home in Tomorrowland. Most remember the short lines, the air conditioning and that classic theme song written by Buddy Baker and X Atencio.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Retro 71 concept and could imagine adding it to your growing Retro 71 apparel collection. Tune in Friday for another Disney attraction typography case study. See ya real soon!

Retro 71

This week’s product post is something different. Don't worry, next week we'll continue with more Retro 71 shirt concepts, but this week I wanted to showcase another avenue of product development. I have ideas for more than just softlines, guys. 

The one thing that Disney Theme Park Merchandise lacks is “story”. With Disney putting so much emphasis on the theme park attractions telling guests a story, I have to ask, why then, doesn't the merchandise? Now, granted, we all know that most of the in-park merchandise is lacking. We all want more than just keychains and ink pens—we want more specific stuff. Case in point: Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The merchandise sold within the Islands of Adventure land is doing it right. The product supports the entire story, right down to the packaging. Each gift shop supports the attraction, which supports the story, which makes it more thematic and believable. Every element works together to create one giant magical package. As Disney guests, we also want to take the magic back home with us. It's like the old shops on Main Street U.S.A. that helped support the overall concept of what one would find and/or see on the main street in any small town in America. The real working barbershop, the tobacconist shop, the hat shop, and the clock shop – forty years ago you would buy merchandise that supported the overall theme and not just browse through five stores of the same product.

 What better attraction to use as an example than the Haunted Mansion? A year ago, I was using the Mansion for another product development concept when that spark of inspiration lit up. I began looking at one character in particular, Madame Leota. After all, she has a cart of merchandise outside Walt Disney World's Mansion. However, the merchandise on said cart leaves a lot to be desired—if I ever met Madame Leota, I don’t think she'd actually have bobble heads or plush Jack Skellington dolls in her traveling caravan. So I began to think of what a gypsy/physic/medium would actually store on her traveling home when I came up with the notion of the Spirit Board, a twist on the classic Ouija Board game.

The packaging and overall design of the product is simplistic, era-driven, funny, and yet believable. It's something I could imagine Madame Leota using.

Instead of branding the product with the Haunted Mansion, I centered it on the character. This one product has since expanded into an entire product line based on this look and Madame Leota – products I feel help support the overall story and themes of the Mansion: magic, ghosts, the unexplained, etc.

So what do you guys think? Would you pay for a Madame Leota Spirit Board and try to speak to ghosts from the beyond, or would you rather have a Haunted Mansion key chain?