Halloween Product Concept

Welcome back to another Designerland holiday special post. We’re getting closer to Halloween, so it’s time to roll out another product concept. 

Each Halloween, I patiently await the Disney Store and Theme Park Merchandise to roll out their haunted holiday product lines. And every year, I hope and pray for a Haunted Mansion pumpkin carving kit. Sadly, each year comes and goes and this concept is never added to their product line lists, so I took it upon myself to create one. Well, I created the primary panel display for the packaging and 3 stencils that you can save, print and try for yourselves.

In an ideal world, I would propose more of a collector set with special packaging and higher end tools, but for this concept, I kept it along the lines of the Pumpkin Masters brand carving kits. I know this product could be easily sourced and they already have a working relationship with DCP, so why not the theme parks?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these. There are countless possibilities on how you could use the stencils, from carving to painting, etching or scraping, so let your creativity out! If you do decide to join me on this Halloween carving adventure, send me your photos and I'll post them here. I'm sure your pumpkins won't mind the bright lights! Thanks for stopping by and have a swell week!

Note: These patterns are challenging to actually carve traditionally, I suggest the etching or painting method. Glow in the Dark Paint would be an amazing effect on these!!! If you do want to try to actually carve them, I suggest enlarging the pattern and finding a large pumpkin to use.

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.

WDWNT

Hey guys check out the latest WDWNT Magazine for a profile article on Designerland.

Over the past year and a half I've received tons of e-mails asking about my personal story of how I got involved with Disney and why I began Designerland. The article, written by Daniel Butcher pretty much tells all.

So go check it out:  WDWNT The Magazine Issue 17

Hope you enjoy it and a big thanks goes out to Daniel and the staff of WDWNT not to mention all my readers, followers and fans!