Speaking with Mike today was a series of showing the posters I have created so far, those being Dapper Dans DLP, Jungle Cruise and the EPCOT Etsy print. The Etsy print was set aside and not really discussed, so I don’t think thats an avenue of study that needs to be explored. I think this is largely because I’ve thankfully zeroed in on working model that is paying off quite early in the experimental process. That being, creating a series of posters, each one a study on the Graphic Design within a specific place or attraction in the parks around the world. And then analysising them to create a Philosophy of Design within the parks.
The flip side to this, Mike suggested, could be a study on what it’s like to visit the parks as a designer? Or simply, how is graphic design used in the spaces within the parks? On this, he suggested I look into Graphic design in architectural spaces. How spatial Design makes us feel and how it is used.
The lead us to talk about Psychogeography which is something Dan suggested last year, that I don’t really know I whole deal about and therefore need to look into. Its something about how graphic design maps a space and how we interact with it as we move through said space.
I also need to revisit semiotics, to look at how their models of thought can be used to analysis shape.
We spoke to lot about the heritage to the design works in the posters I’ve made so far. I explained how I feel like everything I’ve looked at some far is Victorian in origin and therefore hand lettered or painted, and so I wanted to look at something in Tomorrowland (Discovery Land in DLP) as this may have more hard lines and formed lettering and signage. Mike said that maybe sticking with the Main Street and Adventureland stuff would be good in order to group the studies into themes. This is all dependant on what types of primary research I can get back from the various people how are collecting it for me. But through looking at Victorian style designs in the parks, I can start to think about where those designs come from, i.e. European designs that in tern came from Roman or Greek designs that Victorian era people would study on their trips and bring back into our world. Does the sense of comfort and reassurance that the imagineers (Hench?) talk about that the parks give us, come from the heritage designs used in the attractions’ wallpapers and ghost signs? Is that sense of reassurance from a by gone ear, a personal one or a cultural one? I was also reading today the study that looked at how their original Main Street USA of California was translated to the other parks around the world, and especially how the semiotics were recontextualized at the Hong Kong park where they made an exact replica of CA but the guests there don’t understand culturally what Main Street is.
The book Grammar of the Ornament was suggested to look at about the Victorian style of design and where is came from. What it was referencing and what it meant at the time. And therefore what the copy of it represents in Disneyland. This also ties into Simulacra and stimulation talking about Disneyland being a copy of a copy and therefore a hyperreal cultural meaning.
It’s interesting to think that Disneyland is a cultural American icon ‘as American as apple pie’ but all the design work in there is based on European Victorian style. What American’s think of as quintessentially them, is actually us! (Us being europeans).
The last thing we spoke about was the poster book having a cover that used some techniques from sign writing or letterpress. For example gold leaf or embossing.
TLDR:
Study Graphic Design in Architectual spaces
Study Psychogeography
Revisit Semiotics
Read Grammar of the Ornament
Start to think about contextual paper. Why am I studying what I am and what do I want to show from it?