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The graphics created for Walt Disney World when it first opened and up through the 80s are so fun and 100% kitch. Whoever did them *fully* embraced the shapes, colors and illustration styles of the time. The park is turning 40 in 2011, and the company "wanted to focus on the feeling of nostalgia that people have when thinking about those early years" when the park was first built. Specifically, they want to focus on the graphic design with the upcoming 70s-dipped event September 9-11th called The Florida Project. Even the name is retro!
At its roots, this event is a "Disney trading and collecting experience," which doesn't interest me in the slightest. The only thing I collected with "Disney" on it was old paychecks. And, they will be featuring the Munny rip-off Vinylmation, which, every time I see it in any variation, makes me angry. What does interest me is (a) the tribute the original look/feel of park advertising which is retro-licious and (b) the "story" for this event. Stay with me.
Chris Chapman from Disney Design Group describes it: “The story for this event involves an alternate Preview Center that we uncovered. It was never used because the official Preview Center opened on Buena Vista Drive. The experience will be as if you stepped back in time as we will pay tribute to as much as possible from that era.”
Alex Maher, senior character artist with Disney Design Group: “The character designs in the early 1970s were unique. We want to incorporate a similar look with the merchandise we are designing.”
This event is as far from what we typically cover as possible I admit, but I felt like some of our readers old enough to remember seeing these designs in the flesh back when they were fresh might want to know about this event. Source