Spaceship Earth

Welcome back to a new year here at Designerland. I hope all of you had an amazing holiday season and are ready for what 2013 has in store for all of us!

As you all know, this year we will focus on the typography used throughout Epcot Center, starting in Future World then making our way around the World Showcase. I've spent the last few weeks hunting for display fonts and various typefaces. So far in my research, I have noticed two things: 1. Disney fans just don't take as many pictures of signage/environmental graphics in Epcot as they do in the Magic Kingdom and 2. The typography in general is lighter in terms of usage when looking at Future World.

If you have photos of any Epcot signage or if you're out and about with your smart phone handy, do me a kindness and start snapping away photos to share!  Living in Indiana really limits my access to the parks in order to conduct my research. Before I even started Designerland, I had spent about two years hunting down and cataloguing the materials I’ve covered thus far in our typography case studies.

Next week I'll look at the fonts used throughout the (pre-Nemo) Living Seas. I've tracked down a few fonts but could always use more.

Now onto this week’s post. Since we're celebrating the kick off of Epcot typography here at Designerland, I thought it be fitting to release a new Retro '71 shirt concept based on Epcot...one from the Designerland vaults as they say.

This week’s concept is based on the mural painted by Claudio Mazzoli at the entrance of Spaceship Earth. The entire mural design is framed in a rounded-corner rectangle with the Epcot Center and Future World typeset logos. Lastly, some light distressing gives the overall design a not-so-perfect printed look.

Well that does it for this week’s post. Tune in next week as we release our first Epcot Center Typography Case Study. Until then, have a great week and see ya real soon.

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.